Frozen
by Chaotic Harlequin
Summary: Jade West is your average freshly graduated High school student. Dead set on being a writer and a director until she was accidentally cryogenically frozen for 500 years. Now stuck in the 26th century, Jade has to adapt quickly if she's going to survive. Maybe a certain Latina could help her out.
1. Chapter 1

I stared out the window over looking Las Angeles. It was a dark and dreary day. Storm clouds had formed and were taking forever to actually rain. It was a freaking depressing day.

I loved it. So wonderfully morbid, so incredibly depressing. The kind of day that a horror movie would take place. A horror movie like my next script! Brilliant! Trapped in a camping area, unable to leave due to the heavy rain with a psychotic killer on the loose; picking them off one by one. A list material? Surely not. Entertaining anyways? Definitely. Might even develop a cult following. A girl can dream can't she?

A deep sigh rumbled from the other side of the office. I turned around and looked at my greying father. The only thing we had in common was skin color and our eyes. Everything else came from my mother. Or so my father says. My mother died giving birth to me. Severe complications was all my dad would say.

He looked up from the mound of paperwork and tried and failed to smile. "Not the father-daughter day you expected huh?"

I snorted and shook my head. For almost my entire life, my father pretty much ignored me. When he finally bothered to notice me; nothing I did would ever please him. That all changed when I graduated high school. I was at a graduation party with my boyfriend Beck, and dad was returning home from some late night lawyer thing. A drunk driver ran the red light and took his car out. After getting out of the hospital, he had the whole life epiphany thing people sometimes have when they nearly die. Instead of finding Jesus, he found out that he had been a major asshole.

So over the past year dad had been taking me along to lunches, movies, whatever I wanted to do. On occasion, and days like today I would accompany him to work. It still threw me through a loop that the uncaring ass was actually a really nice guy. Just an absolute shit at revealing or talking about his feelings. I guess I inherited that from him as well.

"Jade could you come over here please?" Dad asked with some tension in his voice.

"Still don't like heights old man?"

His face twitched at being called old but he didn't comment. I started to walk forward and I saw my dad breathe a small sigh of relief. I stopped and hurled backwards towards the windows with a startled look on my face. Dad jumped up with a mangled shout. I stopped my fall and stood straight up with a smirk on my face. Dad's face twisted from shock to rage to humor all in the span of a few seconds.

"Sadistic bitch." He muttered and sat back down.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Inherited it from somebody." I retorted.

Dad rolled his eyes. "So what's todays case?" I asked plopping down in the chair. Dad glanced up and raised an eyebrow. I had never before inquired about his work. But he had made strenuous efforts to actually be a father so I figured should be a "good" daughter. Wow. Back in high school I would have told dad to go fuck himself for trying to be a father this late in my life. Lets hear it for maturity yea?

"I'm representing a cryogenics company. One of their workers was hurt when one of their machines exploded. Their worker is suing them for negligence."

"So what have you found?" I asked, honestly interested.

"From everything i've found, it wasn't negligence at all. Just some poor shit luck that the worker was in the basement with the unstable machine."

I frowned. "What was this machine?"

"Supposedly the first gen real cryostasis module. You know like you see in the movies? Puts you to sleep for a bit?"

I rolled my eyes so fast for a second I thought they were going to pop out of my skull. "Yes I know what cryostasis is. Or cryosleep if you want to get technical about it."

Dad's glare said he didn't want to be technical at all. "Anyways, this company is trying to create a real cryostasis unit for living people. For anything from space travel to whatever people can come up with. Seems like their unit broke down and blew up when the janitor was down there."

I glanced up from all of the paperwork. "So mr. Janitor thinks it's Cryogen's fault?"

Dad nodded his head. "That's exactly it. And with my masters in mechanical engineering, I'm pretty much sure that this is just one giant fuck up. Time wore away a few pipes and other bits of equipment, combined with a serious misunderstanding of how everything works. Everyone screws up; but at least the guy didn't die."

I nodded in agreement. Then I thought for a second. "You have a masters in mechanical engineering?" I asked, surprised.

"I have four degrees. Three with different types of law, and the last with engineering. And i got a masters in all of them. Easily done since i didn't have a social life in college."

I laughed at that. I got up and stretched. "This facility, is it at the bottom of this building. Right?"

Dad glanced up. "Yes...obviously I can't stop you from exploring it. Here's the key to the basement. It's been swept, but there still might be something dangerous in there. If you see anything interesting, be sure to write about it. Might make a good movie." Dad's eyes twinkled in amusement. I couldn't help but smile. I quickly exited the CEO's office and sprinted towards the elevator. I nearly barreled over the CEO himself, some fat balding guy. Nice guy really. Just not memorable.

Mr. CEO waved and said something along the lines of be careful. Guess it was pretty obvious as to where I was going. I jumped into the elevator and slammed the button for the basement. The building wasn't that tall, but it still seemed to take forever to reach the basement. I don't know why I was excited. I guess it probably was because cryostasis was a thing for the sci fi stories. To see even a first gen piece of crap would still be pretty cool. And as for being allowed to see it, it probably due to the fact that I was nineteen and in absolutely no position to threaten the company. Besides, its not like i'd be able to tell people how it works.

I nearly broke the key in my excitement to open the door. That would have been embarrassing. I could only imagine the look on dad's face if I reentered the office and told him and the CEO I had broken the key to the basement. I entered the room and looked around. It took a bit to find the light switch and when I turned it on, the suddenly blaring light nearly blinded me. I was blinking repeatedly before I could see again. Fucking lights.

It was easy to find the cryo unit. It was the giant metal cylinder that was conveniently open at the end of the room. I took my time exploring the basement. I found the unit that had blown up. Poking around it didn't reveal anything interesting to me, other then the fact the explosion had clearly started at the back of it. Well, whatever. Further searches found absolutely nothing of interest.

I slowly made my way to the functioning cryo unit. I stepped inside and ran my hands over the surface. It was little bigger then a coffin for a full sized man, so I fit in it just fine. I lay back and imagined just sleeping here for a few weeks, as a ship took me to the distant corners of the universe. Dad was right, I could definitely find a story about this.

My thoughts on the story were instantly obliterated the moment the ground started to shake. Fucking hell an earthquake! I stepped forward to get out of the basement (since being in the basement is a really stupid decision during an earthquake) but the cryo units doors made an ear splitting shriek and slammed down, locking me in. Everything was shaking violently including the cryo unit.

Panic and adrenaline surged through me and I pounded my fists against the doors trying to open them. I screamed in frustration and fear when the doors wouldn't budge. A massive hissing sound got through my screaming. I looked around before finding the source. The openings in the side were leaking some white mist. Almost immediately the temperature started to plummet. I shrieked at the sudden temperature change. I renewed my struggle against the doors. But it was futile. After what seemed like an eternity, the earthquake ended. That didn't mean shit to me though.

My fists kept hitting the door, but I was slowing down. It was starting to hurt to move. I felt myself slowing falling asleep. No amount of adrenaline was keeping me awake. I could see the ice forming around and on me. Cryo sleep was claiming me fast. I felt a second set of shakes starting to happen. Was it the aftershocks? It didn't matter. What did matter was the the rumbling that followed. The cryo unit shuddered violently before crashing through the floor. The landing hurt. Or at least, i think it did. I don't know how I didn't move or shatter into a bunch of pieces.

What little thought process I had left was fading quickly.

_Beck...Dad...i'm sorry. I'm so-_

Blackness claimed me.

_Here's the first chapter. I hope you enjoy. And of course it's a jori story. Perhaps at some point I should write something else._

_-C.H._


	2. Chapter 2

I glanced around. My flashlight highlighted over every piece of rubble. It did not show me anything of value. I sighed and hit the com unit in my ear.

"Sinjin, what is this place?" I asked incredulously.

Almost immediately Sinjin's nervous voice screeched into my ear. Rapidly dialing down the volume I listened to what he had to say.

"It's Cryogen's first building. It's basement collapsed during an earthquake back in the 21st century. After that, the CEO moved to another building and made it into a massive conglomeration that was at the forefront of cryogenic technology."

"So then why are we here?" Andre asked.

"After the earthquake, they just paved over the basement instead of actually digging through it. Rumor has it that they have some things left behind."

"Hopefully it'll be something worthwhile. We seriously need some money to repair the Neb." Cat chimed in. She sounded happy as usual, but when you've known her for as long as I have, you can tell when she was secretly worried. The engine needed to be fixed, and other parts had to be replaced as well. The Neb was running, but she could be running a lot smoother.

Andre came across a door that had been jammed into the bedrock. After some quick consultation, we decided to ignore Sinjin and blow our way into the room. Andre took his time and weaved plastiq wires around the door frame. One muted blast later and we were in. Coughing through the massive clouds of dust, we scanned the room and came up with a resounding nothing. Seriously? Can't something work out for us?

"I've got nothing. You?" I asked.

Andre shook his head, the dust in his dreadlocks scattering off of him, making him look like one of those Kroones who love to add different colors to the hair. It was amusing until the dust got in my face and made me sneeze violently.

"Looks like this was a waste of ti-" I blinked. Andre looked over at me wondering why I had stopped mid sentence. I pointed at what looked like a massive oversized steel coffin. "Looks like an ancient cryo unit. Think it's worth anything?" I asked Andre.

Andre shrugged. " Museums will give a few stags for it. Maybe a sovereign or two. I wouldn't bet on it though."

I thought about it. "It's better then nothing. Cat? Can you bring the rat down here?"

"I can through the old subway tunnels. It'll take me a bit though."

"That's fine. Andre and I will get the antique ready."

Andre and I walked over to cryo unit, while looking around to see if there was anything else of value there. Unfortunately there wasn't. Looking around confirmed what Sinjin had said. This room had collapsed, and then people had pretty much buried it. It was kind of interesting to think that we were the first people in this room in about five hundred or so years. When we reached the cryo unit and started searching around it. Lucky for us, it was completely detached from everything. It was still in one piece which was good. There were very little scratches on the thing, just a lot of dust. And I mean a lot.

It took awhile but Cat showed up with the pack rat. A hover transport used to ferry large amounts of supplies from one area to another. It's pretty fast too, much to Cat's delight. Cat, our fiery headed engineer is a master at mechanics. You put her near a machine and she'll fix it. Doesn't matter what it is or how it broke. She's also permanently happy and childlike. I loved it. Andre served as our jack of all trades guy, though his real passion lay in music. Sinjin served as our technical guy. Computer and comms know how. None of us really like him all that much, but he was too useful to simply leave behind in the megaoplis called Las Angeles.

I served as the captain, with my cargo-runner ship called the Nebuchadnezzar. She was a gift from my mom before she died of the pox when I was fifteen. My dad had been a cop and he died during a gun fight with some gutterrats a couple years later. My older sister Trina just flat out disappeared when I was sixteen. I later found her working in a bar. She seemed to enjoy it so we parted ways. I didn't have the money to finish up with the third level education, so I found my new friends and we started running cargo for people.

The others had no interest in going back to school either. I never asked why. Cat was a complete mystery, only thing I knew about her was that she's seventeen. Andre was a lot more interested in music then third level and according to him, his family couldn't afford to send him any ways.

We had been working together for a few years now, but we loved each other like family. I had originally intended to do this job long enough to raise money to finish my education, but I couldn't stand the idea of being separated from my new family. Besides, there are plenty of holo vids to teach me things.

While I was lost in thought, Cat had backed the rat into the unit and with Andre's help, she used the rat's arms to lift the unit onto the back of the rat. I jumped on and Cat took off like a gutterrat running from the city police.

"What are you scanning Tori?" Andre asked.

I shrugged. "Just thinking about how none of us are interested in going for our third level degrees."

Andre gave a disinterested shrug. Cat echoed him as well. "It's not like any of us could really afford it. Besides, what would it accomplish? We study for a bit, spend a ton of money we don't have and then go back to running cargo and scrounging through ancient buildings. Only thing that's changed is wasting four years at some fancy school."

"What Andre said." Cat said. We zoomed through the abandoned subway lines, and I was grateful that the building had collapsed near them. Made things so much easier. But thinking back on what Andre said, and I realized he was right. Even with a fancy degree, jobs on earth were becoming increasingly hard to come by.

Coming out of the subway tunnels, we headed to my ship. Our real home. As much as I loved the Nebuchadnezzar, it cost a lot to keep it in shape and running. But I still wouldn't give it up for anything in the Verse. I wonder why my mom gave it to me, or how she got it in the first place. I wish I could have asked her.

Sinjin was all ready in the cargo bay waiting for us. As Cat parked and secured the Rat, Andre and I removed the cryo unit and set in the workshop in the corner of the bay.

"This thing's heavy." I said.

"How would you know? You let the lifter do all the work." Andre pointed out.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Think anything is inside?" I asked.

"Let's find out" Andre replied

Andre took a prybar to the units doors. Cat watched as he struggled with it for a few seconds before walking over and hitting the button on the side to open it. Andre looked embarrassed but managed to thank Cat.

The unit's doors opened up and we all crowded to see inside. At first there wasn't anything of interest. That was until the vapor cleared and we saw a beautiful ivory skinned woman. All of us looked at each other in shock.

We back away rapidly and tried to make sense of everything. What were we supposed to do?

"She's still alive right?" Andre asked.

"She might be. Better question is how did she end up in there?" I asked. I shook my head. "Okay everyone take a deep breath. If she's alive then we're going to help her. Gods know how long she's been stuck in there. Okay so how do we defrost her without hurting her?" I said looking at Cat.

"Ummm well first I-"

A massive shriek scared the hell out of all of us and had us spinning around to face the unit. The girl was shrieking and punching the air screaming about being let out. It took her a few seconds to realize that the doors were open. Her open mouthed look would have been comical if the situation wasn't so serious. She stumbled forward and almost immediately collapsed. She tried to stand but kept failing.

I ran forward to help her, and the others followed. Andre got there first and even though he looked like he was about to have a heart attack, he was still willing to help. Great guy. The girl saw Andre coming towards her and she started to backpedal as fast as she could. Andre saw that he was scaring her and he slowed down.

"No worries chica, i'm no gutterrat! Just going to help you out. Name's Andre. You?"

The girl stared at Andre for a few seconds before her arm blurred and she hurled a metal object at Andre. With a resounding _clang_, a wrench slammed into Andre's face and he dropped; groaning and holding his face. The girl smirked at all of us. "Nice try jack ass. Now where's my father?" She demanded. She again tried to stand, and this time managed to make it to her feet.

I pulled out my hammersmith and cocked it. The girl's eyes immediately locked onto it and me. She started to look worried, but she quickly covered it up with a cocky smirk. I tossed the gun aside. Her face could have done the holo-picture perfect for surprise.

"We're not going to hurt you. We just want to help you okay?" I said.

The girl seemed to consider it. She looked from the gun to me and back several times. She nodded.

"I'm...Jade..yes my name is Jade. And uh..guy you really shouldn't approach people like that. Some of them are paranoid."

"I said I wanted to help you!" Andre yelled.

"People lie." Jade snapped. "Where am I anyways?"

"You're in Las Angeles, on my ship the Nebuchadnezzar. How long were you down there?" I said. I looked at her clothes, which were boots, black pants and a white shirt with a black opened long sleeve shirt. The red lines in her hair didn't change color.

"Your clothes seem dated." Cat said and then cringed when Jade turned her glare on her. "Dated? What the fuck do you mean? And you said ship? What kind of ship?" She demanded.

I shrugged. "uh as in space ship? Shouldn't be news to you since they've been around for a few centuries now."

"Space...ship? What...What...What year is it?"

When none of us said anything, Jade forced herself to stand up completely and yelled "WHAT FUCKING YEAR IS IT?!"

"It's 2529 please don't yell!" Cat yelled back.

"2529? It can't be..this is a joke..this is a prank. My dad is playing a joke on me...right?"

Andre still holding his head, managed to get up. "No joke psycho lady. It's really 2529."

Jade looked at all of us, and she stumbled towards outside. She got down the ramp and stopped. Staring at the mega city called Las Angeles. Sky towers that reached up through the clouds were everywhere. Hover cars flew in pre set lanes, and she spun around to take in the space port. Off in the distance, some huge ship's engines rumbled and pushed it into the air.

"It's the future..i'm in the future."

Jade turned to look at us in horror and shock. I stared back helplessly. What was I supposed to do? Jade's next action threw me off.

She fainted.

_No worries, any questions you might have will be answered next chapter. Hope everyone enjoys._

_-C.H._


	3. Chapter 3

I tossed and turned on the bed. I rubbed my head and sat up. "talk about a weird ass dream. Beck could-" I looked around. I wasn't in my apartment. I was in some medical lab thing. Lying down on the shelf near me was the latina girl. She was sleeping pretty easily for someone lying down on a hard ass shelf. She wore some open jacket thing with a shirt that morphed colors. It didn't actually take any shape it just changed colors.

Her pants were a rather unremarkable dark blue. Looked like jeans, but weren't. Strange. Since when did we have shirts that change color that fast? It's 20...no. No it's 2529. Oh my god. Beck...Dad...they're all dead. Been dead for centuries. How?! How come they never found me?! Dad and that fat CEO knew I was in the basement! They should have gotten me out!

I pulled my legs up to my chest and dried to get control of my breathing. Panicking didn't help anyone. With numb legs I tried to stand up. It didn't work. I grabbed the nearest silver tray and toppled it in my vain attempt to stay standing. The clattering of the instruments falling woke the girl up. She blinked a few times as if trying to remember why she was here. Then her eyes fell on me.

"Oh my gosh are you okay?"

"Do I fucking look okay?"

Her face contorted into a frown. "I'm Tori Vega. You said your name is Jade right? Jade West?"

I glared at her. "How the fuck did you know my last name Vega?" Just because she was being nice didn't mean that we were friends.

She slowly reached forward and pulled my cell phone out of my pants pocket. "It took me a bit to figure it out, but the uh..text message? From uh..Beck? Said Jade West behave. Kinda obvious he was talking about you. Who was Beck anyways?"

I snatched my phone back and nearly cried. "My fiance. And now he's dead. Along with everyone else I had loved." I snapped.

"I'm sorry. My mom died when I was fifteen. Pox ripped through lower LA. Couple years later, some gutterrats started a gun fight and my dad was killed."

I shouldn't care. I really shouldn't. Or maybe I didn't. But the fact that she was talking about it meant a little to me. Maybe I wasn't alone in the whole orphan thing. I flipped open my phone and looked at it. The Background was a picture of Beck and I, the day he proposed. I had seen it coming, yet it still caught me off guard. It was truly the happiest day of my life.

"Can this ship access the obituaries in the twenty-firsts century?" I asked suddenly. Vega looked a little surprised but she nodded. "There should be a computer in your room."

"My room?"

Vega nodded. "Ummm yea, I mean I don't want to be rude or anything but it seemed like you wouldn't have a place to go so I thought that you would need a place to stay or something."

"Oh. Um. Thanks."

We left the medical bay and walked up some stairs, taking a left and walking up more stairs we came to a hallway. Looking around, it kinda reminded of Serenity. Or at least this part. The little I saw of the outside reminded of a massively oversized SR-71. (yes I know what those are. Read a book people)

Vega showed me to the hatch that was right across from hers. Push the door open, she jumped down and I followed. It was a spartan room, clearly waiting for someone to occupy it. Vega walked over to a wall and pushed a button. A small section flipped backwards to reveal a screen, while a keyboard slid out.

"Sorry no holographic keyboards." Vega said with a smile. I smirked. "This will do." Vega started making the bed. I turned around to look at her. She looked back. "You're new here. Probs don't want to admit it, but you're going to need my help."

I frowned. I never liked admitting that I needed help with anything, but she was right. I'm centuries out of element. It took me a few seconds to realize that the computer screen was also a touch screen, but when I did I was able to start really searching. It took awhile for the computer to get the information. Though it was fast enough to make anything I had used look pathetically slow, it still had trouble going through five-hundred years of obits.

I found it though.

Beck Oliver. DOD February 19, 2066. Plane accident. Succeeded by his son and grandchildren. So he was able to move on. Good. Right? I don't know. I reached up to touch his picture. No mention of a wife. Well he was a handsome man and was far from a monk when we first met. It should have been our child. And Our grandchildren. I snatched my hand back as if the screen had been on fire. Next person.

Arthur West. Died August 30 2013. The day I was frozen. He died in the earthquake. Vega was reading over my shoulder, but I ignored her. It didn't say how he died. It was probably my fault. If I hadn't been in the basement...

"It's not your fault you know." I turned and opened my mouth to say something scathing, but Vega cut me off.

"When the pox hit, my mom gave my sister and I the non-infected food and saved the rest for her self. After...After she died I had mentioned that I wanted to be a singer, my dad started working triple shifts to raise money for me to go to school. If he hadn't been on the midnight shift...I used to think that it was my fault. If I hadn't said anything." Vega shrugged.

"Why are you telling me this?" I demanded.

"It seemed like the right thing to do."

"Do you always do the right thing?"

"I try to. Do..you want to take a look around?" Vega asked tentatively.

My response was cut off by my stomach roaring. I blushed a little. "Food?"

Vega beamed. "I know a great place!" She grabbed my hand and yanked me up the ladder and out of the room. We used some sort of hover bike thing and roared out of the ship.

We entered the lanes and I couldn't believe. Flying cars! I mean, I never in a billion years thought that I would actually see them. The buildings themselves! Skyscrapers that reached into the clouds and seemed to continue. The buildings gave off a light blue color. The wind blew our hair around creating a halo like affect. I kept turning my head to try and see everything. In the back of my mind I terribly missed Beck and my dad. I missed the chance that I never got to tell dad that Beck had proposed the day before. I had kept on saying my boyfriend when I meant to say my _fiance._

Then Vega dropped down and we plummeted towards a tunnel. My shriek of fear quickly turned into laughter as I held on to Vega tightly. Vega expertly weaved through the traffic, the drivers not noticing us.

"There he is!" Vega yelled over the wind.

"Wh-?" My question turned into a shriek as vega exited the tunnel and dove towards what looked like an old Chinese tugboat. "Hey Mr. Li!"

An old man leaned out the window of what I guessed was the drivers seat. "Ah Tori! Good to see you! Didn't think you'd still be Earthbound!"

This Mr. Li was at least in his sixties and had long white hair tied back into a top knot. For some reason I doubted his name was really Mr. Li. "Two of the usual please."

"Ohhh and who is this lovely lady? Your girlfriend?"

"What? No no we're just friends!"

I leaned back in offense. "And here I thought we had something special going on! We are so over."

I never thought anyone could turn that red. Or look that surprised. I couldn't help myself. I roared with laughter and a second later, Mr. Li joined in. Vega went from surprised to fuming and then she chuckled herself. Mr. Li went to cook whatever the usual was and Vega and I hovered near the little boat craft thing.

"So you're thinking about leaving Earth?" I asked. Vega nodded. "More jobs out there. Besides, be more of an adventure right?" I shrugged. Mr. Li soon returned with two steaming bowls of noodles and pieces of meat. He hand them to us while Vega tossed a couple coins at him. Waving goodbye we drifted until Vega found a parking spot.

I sat there eating the noodles, and dear god were they delicious. "Mr. Li isn't his real name is it?"

Vega shook her head. "Nope. Only thing I know about him is that he makes delicious food and is sixty-three."

I looked around. The massive city seemed to stretch on and on. Would I fit in anywhere here? My fingers squeezed against the bowl. I fought the tears that were coming to my face. I called upon every acting skill I knew and my own stubborn personality. I don't cry in public. Never.

Vega looked at me worriedly. "I'm fine. I'm...I'm going with you."

Vega looked confused for a second then she nodded. "My place is your place. As long as you don't make fun of me."

"No promises."

_I need to cut down on the amount of caffeine I drink. _

_-C.H._


	4. Chapter 4

I yawned and sat up and stretched. Something in my back cracked and I took that as the sign to get up. It had been six weeks since we had found Jade in the cryo unit. Since then, she had taken to learn as much as possible. If she wasnt in the cockpit, she was at a firing range or learning about history from digi-tomes or holo-vids. It was kind of scary how quickly she learned something. Even scarier when she learned something that she could put to use in horrifying manners. Jade was great with dealing with people that refused to pay.

I took a quick shower and exited the bathroom. (not that you could really call it that, a shower nozzle popped out of the wall and that was about it.) My hair had gotten pretty long and was almost reaching my waist. I tied it back with a loose knot and exited my room. Speaking of Jade, I found her in the cockpit leaning back with her feet propped up on the controls. She was fast asleep. Jade also took to the fashion enhancements pretty fast as well. The light strips in her hair were currently green, and when Jade shifted and breathed deeply, they changed to blue. Cat must have helped her with that, she loves the hair changing thing. Though Cat's hair ranged from velvet red to the color of fire and depended entirely on her mood.

I tapped Jade on the shoulder and she didn't move. I shook her shoulder and the digi-tome fell out of her hand to the floor and Jade mumbled something under her breath. Sighing I grabbed the digi-tome. The rise and fall of the credit chit? No wonder the poor girl was asleep.

It took some work, but I managed to get her on my back to carry her back. Even if her room hadn't been right across from mine, it would have been easy to find it because the most demonic Jolly Roger I had ever seen decorated the door. Sighing at her morbid tastes, I pushed open the door and climbed down to her room. I hadn't been in her room in weeks, and the walls were covered with posters and picts of bands and actors, both twenty-first century and twenty-sixth. Except for a small corner which seemed oddly bare. Putting Jade down on the bed, I went over to look. The corner had a small collection of pictures. One of them was of her kissing a boy, (i'm guessing Beck) along with various other pictures of them together. There was one with a picture of Jade flying a plane. (which explains how she got such a quick handle on flying the Neb.) Another one showed her with an older man with grey hair. He was going through a large pile of papers while Jade sat nearby with a hand held computer. Underneath the picture, someone had written Father-Daughter time.

I smiled. It was kind of funny that the girl who could be as heartless and cold as space actually had _feelings._ Wouldn't want her to find out that I knew that though...she might do something to me. Before leaving I tucked her in and Jade mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a thank you.

I left her room and headed for the engine room. Cat and the others were installing a stream strive. Brand new too! Made everything much better. I still don't know how Jade and Cat got their hands on it though. Those things cost as much as a third level educational year. I kept on asking, but Jade said not to worry about it. Cat would only say that Jade is terrifying when she's mad. I idly wondered if this had something to do with the day Cat and Jade had left with the rat to make a delivery, and Jade came back with a solid white handprint on her butt.

I came up to the engine room and watched Andre attach wires to a control panel. His shirt was off and his toned body was covered in some sort of fluid. He had his shoulder length braids tide back. He looked like someone that had been a mechanic for his entire life.

"How goes everything?" I asked.

"According to Cat, it's all good. We should be finished with everything soon."

Cat popped her head from behind the engine. Her hair was a dark red velvet color. So she's in a really good mood.

"Hey cap, is blackmail legal?" She asked inquisitively.

I blanched and shook my head. "No, no it's not. Why?"

"No reason. Could you hand me that spanner please?"

I handed her the spanner and tried to think of the reasons why should would ask about blackmail. Did Jade blackmail someone? I dismissed the thought when I started working with Cat on the engine. Unlike her, this didn't come naturally to me and I had to focus on what I was doing. Sinjin came in a little bit later and managed to aggravate Cat by suggesting that she did something wrong. In a heart beat, her hair went from dark red to the color of fire. I ordered Sinjin out. Honestly, after all this time you'd think he'd know not to bluntly assume Cat did something wrong. She was touchy about her abilities. Even Jade figured that out five minutes after meeting her.

After a couple hours I declared it was lunch and we all left the engine room to head to the dinning room. Jade was there eating some fries and drinking recaff. (She was extremely happy to find recaff, or coffee as she called it still existed) Sinjin walked up to her and Jade immediately barked "Leave." and Sinjin retreated immediately. I wish I could get him to follow my orders that easily.

Cat bounced into the room and landed right next to Jade. Jade regarded her with that exasperated but loving look I had seen parents give their kids. I usually gave Cat the exact some look. Andre walked by and started cooking, and Jade made no attempt to hide the fact that her eyes were roaming all over him. For some reason, I felt annoyed at this; but then I immediately felt better when she seemingly seemed to dismiss him and instead focus on me.

"So how did you get the drive?" I asked by way of greeting.

Jade started drinking her recaff and took her sweet time to finish it. When she finally put the mug down, she knotted her fingers together and smirked. "It was a gift. From a rather rich fellow who needed to learn that he has to keep his hands to himself."

I'm pretty sure I paled and looked shocked. "What...what did you do to him? If you did anything bad and you get arrested, I wont be able to help you!"

Jade raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "I didn't do anything. Besides threaten to tell his wife about his philandering. And charge him for sexual assault but that's besides the point. He offered to give me a lot of money to make sure I never brought this up again. I demanded a better engine for the Neb."

"So he gives us one of the most expensive pieces of equipment in the history of man?"

"He's a shipping baron. One small engine isn't going to do anything to his finances."

"Why didn't you tell me from the start?" I demanded.

"You didn't need to know until Cat had installed the engine. Wouldn't give you the chance to return it. Since I did get it with the help of technically illegal means."

I opened my mouth to point out that illegal means could backfire, but Andre walked over with a plate of largos steaks and said "Mom and Mom, your lunch is ready."

We both muttered thanks and glared at each other, an argument over something trivial forming in our heads. Then we stopped and thought about what Andre said.

"Mom?" We both said, looking at each other.

"Andre!" We both shouted. But Andre was gone. Fuming, we glared at each other and reached for the steaks. Cat had also left with her meal, leaving us alone together.

"You would have asked that I return the engine, since I did blackmail the guy. But I thought we could use a better engine to actually leave Earth and get some real jobs. Not a dozen piece of shit runs." Jade grimaced. "I can still feel his hand on my ass."

I frowned. "I'm not mad about you blackmailing him. I'm mad because the rich have so much power. They don't just influence the senate, they actually rule it!"

That brought Jade up short. She sighed. "I think his name was O'Brien."

I thought for a few seconds. "O'Brian is small time. He doesn't have any say in the police, unlike the others. I know you're out of your time here, but please be careful. We got lucky this time. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Jade looked at me as if she was judging me. "Why's that?"

"What?"

"Why don't you want anything to happen to me?"

I was confused. "um because we're friends?"

Jade nodded. "Okay what's the real reason? It's because i'm hot isn't it?"

"What? No!"

Jade immediately got offended. "So i'm not hot then? Thanks Vega."

"No, that's not! I mean, You are hot, I mean beautiful I it's not the only reason"

My babbling was cut off by her laughter. "You're way to easy."

I stuck my tongue out at her. Jade smirked. "I'd put your tongue back before I come over there and bite it off."

My tongue disappeared back into my mouth. Jade laughed again. "Damn. Was hoping to get the chance to bite it."

Before I could even figure out a response to that blatant flirt, a voice snickered and said "I told you they like each other."

Both of us looked at each other and then marched over to the door leading to the cargo bay. Jade yanked it open and Cat, Andre and Sinjin practically fell over each other in an attempt to get away. Jade growled and set after them, but I grabbed her arm. She looked back at me and I said "Our pilot needs to get ready, engine's ready." I attempted to steer her away from hurting our crew mates.

Jade growled again but set off towards the bridge. She sat in the chair and started checking over everything. Cat's voice chimed over the com announcing that everything was ready. I hovered over Jade, worried but still confident that she'd do well. (Despite the fact that i'd own the Neb for years, Jade had all ready proven to be a crack pilot. It grated a little..okay a lot)

"Everyone ready?" Jade asked.

Everyone came back with a confirmation. "So where to then o fearless leader?" I rolled my eyes and leaned over Jade. The only thing she hadn't learned was to properly put in the coordinates for some place.

"Shouldn't this ship have a co-pilot's seat?" Jade asked.

I pointed to the co-pilot's station which was a mess of wires and other components. "oh." was all Jade said.

Jade reached over and snapped off the comm that linked the bridge with the rest of the ship.

"Thanks." She muttered. "Thanks for taking me in. and giving me a home. I know i'm not the easiest to get along with-"

I interrupted her with a hug. "You're my friend, whether you want to admit it or not. Now lets go, we have some probably not all that legal jobs to do."

Jade raised her eyebrows so high that they almost disappeared into her hair. Before she could say anything, I said "Smuggling isn't really all that bad. Besides, once we leave Sol and the inner colonies, those are probably going to be the most common jobs. Besides, if we get caught, we pay a fine and be on our merry way!"

"You make it sound way to easy. Something is going to go wrong."

"You're pessimistic." I retorted.

"Try realistic. I'm sure you've heard of Murphy's law right? Applies in all centuries kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

"I've got five centuries on you. You're a kid compared to me. Now lets go."

Jade snapped the comm back on and started the launch sequence. The engines rumbled and Cat squealed over the comm about how the drive was working wonderfully. "Good bye Los Angeles. Might see you again some time. Might not." Jade whispered.

I didn't say anything because I was thinking the same thing. Her hand hovered over the launch button. I placed my hand over hers. Together we pressed it and the Neb's engines roared completely to life.

"One last thanks." Jade said. I was confused until she said "Thanks for bringing me back to my room. You didn't touch anything right?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Didn't touch a thing."

"Good. We're never speaking about this again."

The Neb started to raise, and soon the bottom thrusters closed and the main thrust engines roared and launched us forward. Jade laughed and expertly guided the Neb through atmo. We soon cleared the clouds and could clearly see the endless sea of stars.

"Beautiful." Jade whispered. I couldn't even say anything, I was overwhelmed by the sight. We looked at each other and then smiled. Jade pulled the throttle back, and we raced of into space.

_So they finally leave Earth. Wonder what their first job will be? _

_-C.H._


	5. Chapter 5

I couldn't believe it. We were flying through space. Actual space. As in endless sea of stars space. Vega hovered behind me with a bemused look on her face. The computer directed me to a space platform just past the moon. Eta was a little more then a couple hours. I wanted to put on the auto pilot and just stare out into space. But I couldn't. The traffic was ridiculous. Not including the military there was hundreds of ships moving around. I watched in amazement as one massive ship that dwarfed the Neb move off towards the moon. After it cleared the other ships, it started to glow blue. Bright blue. Before I could comment on it, the ship seemed to stretch forward and blue disc opened up in front of it. The ship moved into the blue disc and then disappeared.

"What..was that?" I demanded.

Vega looked up from whatever tome thing she was looking at. "oh just a cruise liner."

"Just a cruise liner? The thing made an aircraft carrier look like a toy! And what's the blue thing? How did it just disappear like that?"

"Oh that? It just entered hyperstream. Or the stream as I like to call it."

"Hyperstream? As in faster then light?"

Vega beamed. "Exactly. Schway isn't it?"

"Can the Neb do that?"

"Yea, but it costs a lot of fuel. I don't want to use it unless we have to. Which are going to soon anyways."

"Were are we going?" I couldn't believe it. I was excited. Traveling faster then light? Should be impossible! The things I could see! I felt childish in my excitement, but back in my time faster then light was reserved for the sci-fi shit and thought to be completely impossible.

"Well for now we're going to that space station right there. This is a legit job for GEDN."

I raised my eyebrow at the acronym and Vega said "Greater Earth Dominion Navy "

"We're running a job for the navy?"

Vega shrugged. "They pay pretty well."

I shrugged at that and continued piloting the ship. Vega and I had a heart attack when some idiot brought his ship near us. (Near of course being several hundred kilometers but still, it's freaking dangerous.)

It took a little over a couple hours to get to the space station which orbited the moon. It caught me off guard how quickly we were able to reach the moon, I remember hearing some sci-fi geeks who were talking about some space missions and they were complaining about how long it took to reach the moon. If they could see this shit now. Hah! Could you imagine the look on their faces?

Docking wasn't that difficult. Mainly because Vega did it. I watched as she fired the micro thrusters and adjusted the Neb until the hull locked with the outer tube thing. Vega and I walked the airlock. A hissing sound filled the air as the tunnel filled with air. I glanced at Vega and tried everything to suppress any nervous feelings. I was about to step on a goddamn space station. One that just from the outside made the International Space Station look like a goddamn toy. Outdated and useless toy.

The airlock opened and we walked down the long hall way. I stopped to stare out at Earth. I couldn't believe the sight. Hundreds of ships orbited the planet. Some stayed in position, while others patrolled. Giant space stations that bristled with various weapons orbited the planet as well. Obviously civilian ships burned red as they entered the atmosphere and some were leaving and entering the stream. It was an impossible sight. And amazing one as well.

Vega waited patiently for me before I started following her down the hall way. When we exited the the other air lock, we were greeted by a security station and two huge men with their hands on their guns. The guy standing by the computer told us not to move, and soon a line of light passed over us twice.

Computer guy stared at the screen and said "No weapons. They're clean."

With that, the two grunts relaxed by about a micrometer and let us through. "That was interesting." I muttered.

"Top of the line scanners. Navy's paranoid."

"What military isn't?" I asked.

Vega laughed at that. It took some time, but we found the contact in his office. A blue eyed blond named Lieutenant Clemson. He glanced at us and rolled his eyes, and almost immediately I couldn't help but dislike him.

"You're Tori Vega, captain of the Nebuchadnezzar?"

He botched the name so badly that it took Vega and I a couple seconds to realize he was talking about the Neb.

"Yes I am. And this is my first mate Jade West."

Being named first mate like that threw me off, but I suppressed any and all surprise and stayed focus.

"That's nice. Do you know what this mission entails and what is expected of you?"

"We carry a bunch of shit from point A to point B?" I asked.

Clemson looked annoyed at my sarcasm and Vega tried (and failed) to suppress a laugh.

Clemson took a moment to gather himself and then spoke. "There was a terraforming accident on Gobi Minor, over in the Delta system. Your ship will be carrying a large amount of medical supplies and food for the people there." Clemson looked out the window towards were the Neb was docked. "Can your ship even reach the Delta system?"

Vega bristled and looked ready to erupt at the question. I frowned in annoyance. Why I was annoyed was beyond me. But it didn't matter. Vega snapped "Yes she can reach the Delta system. She could even get to the Reach system."

Clemson damn near laughed at that. And that only served to make us both madder at him. What an ass...

"Anyways, here's the pass codes to enter the supply depot on Luna's surface. You will be paid the moment those supplies hit Gobi's surface."

Vega grabbed the tome out of his hands and was about to storm away before I held me hand up. "Why isn't the navy doing this themselves?" I asked.

Clemson's eyes narrowed. "We're not leaving until you tell us." I snapped.

Clemson seemed grow angrier before Vega stepped back and folded her arms across her chest. I did my damnedest to avoid glancing at her admittedly nice body.

"Clemson what's the hold up? We have more work to be done!" A voice bellowed from behind us. Vega and I turned around, both reaching for were are guns were supposed to be. A massive bald and dark skinned man stood behind us. "Who the hell are you?" I snapped. I glanced back at Clemson who was standing ram rod straight with his hand against his head in a salute. His superior then.

The man looked at us and said "I am Captain Wilcox, and I am in charge of this station. Who are you two?"

"Tori Vega and Jade West." Vega said introducing us. "Are you two in charge of that Broadsword class transport?"

We both nodded.

Wilcox looked back at the Neb. "A fine vessel. Can take a beating like no other. I assume Clemson has filled you in on all the details?"

"Some. Still wondering why the Navy isn't doing this themselves." Vega said.

Wilcox sighed. "This wasn't an Dominion Terraforming incident. It's some stupid company and they wont let us help. So we're hiring people like you two to run supplies to Gobi and save as many people as we can."

"That's not everything. You're still not telling us everything." I said. Wilcox glanced at me and smiled. "You're right. I doubt we all want to be here for hours on end while I explain the various political problems. Point is, the Navy can't make these runs and people like you are needed. There's also the matters of pirates and terrorists hiding out in the newly settled Delta System."

"So you send us because cargo-runners are a stag a dozen?" I snapped.

Wilcox nodded. "One of my better ideas. This whole situation is cheaper then launching a full military scale relief effort. You get paid, people on Gobi get supplies and the government saves money and solves several political problems. Everyone wins."

I sighed and glanced at Vega. She nodded. "Thanks for telling us." Vega said. "You're welcome. Now if you both will move on, Clemson has a lot more runners to talk to." Wilcox stepped aside and we walked past him.

"What politics was he talking about?" I asked while walking back to the Neb.

Vega shrugged. "Probably more independence peeps out in the colonies. Every so often a bunch of people will try and declare independence from the Dominion. Military usually kills or captures all of them. Might be bigger this time."

"What? The independence movement?"

"Yea. How long were we in there anyways? Couldn't have been that long."

"It wasn't. But they're probably operating on a tight schedule. This is the navy we're talking about."

Vega agreed and we exited the airlock and got back on the Neb. Detaching from the station, we slowly drifted down to the Moon, or Luna as it's now called. (or has it always been called that?)

Landing in the hanger bay, Vega had me oversee the loading of the supplies. The others took to me as being the first mate without batting a single eye. Sinjin looked at me ever more now with what I hope was nothing but awe in his eyes. I knew it wasn't though. Well, as long as the little shit keeps his hands to himself i'm not going to worry about it.

When the last of the crates were loaded onto the Neb, Andre and I got back on the Neb. I headed up to the cockpit where Vega and Cat were attempting to fix the mess that was the co-pilot's station. They had gotten a lot done surprisingly.

"Jade can you take us out of here?" Vega asked.

"Am I hotter then you?" I replied. Andre swallowed a grin while Cat looked like she was debating between laughing and frowning at the comment. Vega pursed her lips and glared at me. Or tried to. She's really too nice to have a glare.

Smirking at her, I started up the Nebuchadnezzar and slowly brought us out of Luna Station. Once we were clear I throttled the engines and we took off. I hit the autopilot and left the Neb running straight while I helped the others put the copilot's station together. It took a couple hours but we managed it.

"I'm not sure I like this job all that much." Vega said as she plugged in the coordinates. I was going over the systems making sure everything was working.

"It's not like we have a choice. We need credibility and the money." I said.

"Well yea, but still. There's so much going on in the Dominion."

"That's their problem Vega. Ours is figuring out where to spend our money." I tapped my finger against my lip. "You know what I just realized?" I asked.

Vega shook her head. "No, what?"

"I haven't gotten laid in like...five hundred years. Sets the record for dry spell huh?"

Wow. I have never seen someone blush that much or that fast. Vega stammered something before bending back over to check the nav comp. I laughed. I don't why I kept teasing her, but it was just funny. Too Funny really.

The others stood on the bridge as Vega and I triple checked everything. Cat stayed with the engine and I ordered Andre to go down and help her. Vega had Sinjin go over comms and the cp's station and make sure everything was working.

The reason for all of the checking is because FTL travel is extremely dangerous even when done correctly. According to Vega, if we screw something up or something goes wrong and we're incredibly lucky, the only thing that will happen is that we up up a few million kilometers off course. If we're unlucky, the engine could overheat and atomize us, or we could jump inside of a star, slam into a meteorite or some other space debris. The possibilities of your death with a Stream jump are almost endless.

Finally after what seemed like forever, everything was ready. Everyone over the comms and the bridge sucked in a collective breath and I pushed the button. At first nothing happened. Before anyone could comment on it though, the Neb started to glow blue. A bright blue disc suddenly erupted right in front of us, and the Neb entered it.

I wont describe what was like moving through what the other's called a Stream tunnel because there's simply no words to describe it. The most I could come up with was beautiful. A beautiful kaleidoscope of colors that didn't go together but did go together. That's all I can come up with.

Time past, I didn't look at the clock simply because it counted down until we reached out destination. After hours of travel, we erupted into real space. And boy did we stop. If I hadn't been belted in I would have gone flying right into the screen. I only just managed to catch Vega before she slammed into the screen.

"We need to work on stopping." I said, still holding onto her. Vega with a thoroughly surprised face could only agree. Vega made no move to get off my lap, and I didn't bother to push her off. Sinjin had buckled himself in the copilot's seat at the last second and was fine.

"According to the nav, we are two and a half days away from Gobi." Vega said.

"Why so far?" I asked. "Couldn't we stream closer?"

"We could, if we wanted to get arrested. Military only lets military ships stream jump right over a planet."

Vega set the auto pilot and the both of us got up. I looked around at the incredibly unfamiliar space. I couldn't believe it. I was in another system! After traveling faster then light! It was unbelievable. Vega and I went down to the kitchen to get us something to eat. Sinjin somehow managed to get himself tangled up in the belts so we just left him there. Nuking some food in the microwave, I grabbed it and started heading up to the observation deck.

"five hundred years old and you still can't cook?" Vega called after me.

I raised a one finger salute in her general direction. Vega laughed and I swear it was an angelic sound. I wondered if she could sing. I got up to the obs deck and I just stared out into space. Off in the distance, I saw a brown planet, with a massive and I mean massive storm smack in the center of it.

Vega came up with her own meal and sat next to me. We ate in silence, just staring out into space. After finishing our meals, I leaned back against the couch. I felt my eyes slowly closing. Todays events, even though they didn't seem like much had overwhelmed me. I couldn't believe I was so far from Earth. I still couldn't believe that I was in the 26th century but that's besides the point.

My head eventually leaned over to the side and fell. It was stopped by a shoulder. Vega's shoulder and she didn't seem the least bit bothered by me turning her into an impromptu pillow.

She patted my arm said "I'll be here awhile. Go to sleep."

Before I could deny that I was tired, my body betrayed me and I yawned loudly. I fell into her lap and before I could even process what was happening, I was asleep.

_Make my day. Review. _

_Please?_

_-C.H._


	6. Chapter 6

In the several weeks that I had known Jade, she had made it clear that she was not to be approached unless she allowed it. Suffice to say, I was very surprised when she fell asleep in my lap. Her hair framed around her face and...wow...i never thought that Jade could look so relaxed and...peaceful. It was like all of the anger that normally was all over her face just melted away.

I leaned back against the couch and stared out into space. My favorite place was the obs deck. A fantastic place to see the endless sea of stars. Seriously, the next time you have the chance just go and stare at the stairs. I really don't think you'll ever find a more beautiful sight.

I looked at Jade and smiled. Poor girl must have been completely overwhelmed by everything. I mean, I was born and raised in this century and I was impressed. I looked at the desert planet. I think it was called Redifar or something like that. It didn't matter. There wasn't any people there due to the fact that the planet had very little oxygen and a lot of carbon dioxide. I idly wondered why no one had tried to terraform it, but I didn't care enough to actually go and look for the information.

The door chimed and Cat came in and collapsed on the couch in the center of the of the room. She almost hit in the back of the head. I mock-frowned at her and Cat smiled. Her smile nearly split her face in half when she saw Jade sleeping with her head in my lap.

"She's going to hurt you when she wakes up you know"

I sighed. "Yea yea I know."

Jade twitched and mumbled something. Cat smiled and I smiled back. Andre and Sinjin joined us a little bit later. Sinjin shot me a look of jealously or something. Andre smiled and waved his fingers at me. I stuck my tongue out at him. We all crowded around the couch and soon most of us were drifting off and lazing around the couch.

It was really nice. Some number of hours passed and we were all still in the obs deck. I had fallen asleep myself. I woke up when my legs had fallen asleep from not moving for several hours. I shifted my legs around and Jade rolled back towards my stomach. The pins and needles feeling raced up and down my legs and Jade headbutted me in the stomach.

Somehow that woke her up and she leaned up and rolled her shoulders yawning loudly. She finally then glanced at me she actually _blushed!_ Before I could tease her about it, her face resumed it's normally angry look.

"Thanks...you're not that bad of a pillow." She mumbled/grumbled.

"I think that sounded like a compliment." I whispered.

"Don't get used to it. It's not happening again."

Before I could comment on it, a needle nosed object raced past the window. It left behind a lightish blue trail. Jade and I stared at it and it got some distance past the Neb before exploding. The shockwave hit the Neb almost immediately and tossed us about. Jade immediately started cursing a blue streak before she landed on top a similarly angry Andre. They were lucky. I was crushed by both Cat and Sinjin.

"How the hell did the shockwave bounce us that much?!" Jade demanded.

"Must be a concussion missile!" Cat answered.

We all turned to her and she shrank a little and said "They're missiles designed to release massive shockwaves to break apart or disable ships. Interpol loves them."

We digested the information and started sprinting for the cockpit. I ordered Andre to the bottom turret, Cat had all ready taken off for the engine room. Jade Sinjin and I reached the cockpit in what have been record time. Sinjin jumped into the copilot's station and we looked out the window and gasped at the massive ship that was in front of us.

"They're hailing us." Sinjin said.

"On screen then." I said and Jade chuckled. Before I could ask her what she thought was funny, a smug brown eyed man appeared on the screen. He had a crescent shaped scar on his face, but other then that he was completely unremarkable.

"Hello there Broadsword class transport. You have some cargo that I want. Halt and let us board. Don't give us cause there to board by force."

Wow his voice was unremarkable too. I swear if he wasn't threatening to kill us I wouldn't know he existed.

I muted the comm and said to Jade "Delay him anyway you can. Get ready to move the moment I say kay?"

Jade nodded and I sprinted off and got to the kitchen and started scrambling up the ladder. I got into the turret and started flipping the switches to power it up. Duel quad rail turrets. Outdated but still packing a punch.

"Andre you ready?"

"Yea chica, what am I aiming at?"

"Any part of those pirates."

I switched on the internal comms and patched into the cockpit. I over heard what was going on.

"I'm running out of patience girly. You best stop and let us board."

"I'd love to cunt lips but that concussion missile of yours damaged a lot here."

"Sounds like a personal problem."

"Our problem is your problem. Not letting you board if means we all get sucked out the goddamn airlock. Now chill your goddamn tits and wait."

I giggled. Jade's rudeness was often aggravating to deal with but it was funny watching her unload on someone else. "Jade tell them they can board."

"Got it. Hope you have a good plan."

"I always have a plan."

"A GOOD plan Vega."

I swallowed my retort and waited. Jade told captain nobody that he could board, and his ship started rolling closer.

"Sinjin do they have any shields or anything like that up?"

"No...no nothing's charged." Sinjin was worried but he didn't sound like he was about to panic.

"Cat make sure the drive is ready for a sprint."

"Kay kay Cap!" Cat was worried but still in high spirits. Good. I wanted to ask Jade how she was handling things but I knew I wouldn't get a straight answer from her. Before I could inquire about Andre, the pirate ship moved in close. They extended their docking grapplers and moved to get ahold of the Neb. They were right in front of us. God their ship was huge, like a giant block with arms at the side.

I held my breath. Waited. The grapplers crept forward. A few seconds before they would have grabbed ahold of the Neb, I screamed "Fire!"

The turret I was in popped out of it's protective shell and I opened up. Eight brilliant flashes of grey-white light ripped through space repeatedly. From underneath the Neb, lights ripped forward and slammed into the pirate ship. Explosions ripped along the pirate ship as it roiled and shuddered from the sudden attack.

"Jade now!"

The Neb suddenly roared forward and dove underneath the pirate ship and I continued firing at it. Once we got behind it Andre and I swiveled around and firing at it. Despite the dozens upon dozens of explosions, I could tell that we weren't really doing all that much damage to it. It's size protected it.

"Sneaky there Vega. I'm impressed."

"Thanks. Get us as far away from these guy as we can. I don't want to get hit by a concussion missile."

"I don't want to get hit by a missile at all." Jade responded.

"I second that!" Andre said. The both us kept up the fire as the massive vessel tried to turn around. By the time it turned around Jade had gotten us pretty far away. "Andre stop firing. We have to save ammo."

"Cat, how is she?" I asked worried.

"Almost no damage. She's just fine. Probably mad about the whole missile thing." I breathed out a sigh of relief. Cat rattled off something that didn't make sense, and I really shouldn't but I ignored her. "How did those pirates know we have something?" I asked myself.

"Lucky guess probably. They probably didn't know for sure. Just thought that we wouldn't be here without caring something." Jade said.

I jumped, not expecting that I had spoken loud enough to be heard. While it was reassuring that no one had ratted us out, I was still upset over the fact that we had been jumped so soon in the system. Was it really that bad over here? What was the dominion doing?! They were supposed to stop this kind of thing!

"How much farther until Gobi?"

"Looks like a little over a day and a half." Jade answered.

I sighed and leaned back in the chair. "No relaxing yet! Something on the scanner, and it's big! Looks like our friends are coming back!" Jade yelled.

"Andre get ready! Jade get us out of here!"

"Working on it princess." Jade snapped. Missiles arced towards us, and before I could say anything the Neb suddenly rolled and dived to the right.

"Ooooohh!" was all I could say before the Neb righted itself and then rolled to the left. We jinked, dove and all other sorts of things that I couldn't name. "I didn't know that she could do that!" I yelled to myself as my stomach lurched with another sharp turn.

"Yea neither did I!" Jade said as she laughed outrageously.

Andre groaned over the comms. "I'm going to be sick." he said. "same urp!" Sinjin groaned. Cat cheered and laughed with each roll. At least those two are enjoying themselves. The pirate ship was fast, but it wasn't maneuverable. It was like watching a dog trying to catch a fly. It was pretty funny, right up until my lunch threatened to come up. We continued to dodge and roll for who knows how long. I certainly wasn't keeping track. Glarg...

The pirate ship suddenly broke off and slowed down. Why would?

"Getting contacts up here. Lots of them. Sinjin what are they?"

"Ships.. a lot of them...i think we came across a convoy."

I scrambled out of the turret and ran/stumbled to the cockpit. I got there just in time for Jade to answer a hail. A voice only hail. "Unknown vessel, this is Dominion Navy cruiser Magellan. State your name and purpose."

It took a second but I spoke up and said "This is the freelance transport Nebuchadnezzar. We're carrying relief supplies to Gobi and just managed to get away from some pirates."

"You're in luck then Nebuchadnezzar. That's our destination. We can't let you in the convoy, but you can hang around."

"That's fine Magellan. Many thanks."

I turned off the comms and leaned against the wall. "Urrgg." I grumbled,

Jade looked at me and then Sinjin and rolled her eyes. "Babies. The both of you."

I wanted to have a snappy come back, but I was too motion sick to think, so I only said "Shut up you lolo driver."

Jade smirked that smirk of hers and didn't say anything.

_This space is intentionally left blank._

_-C.H._


	7. Chapter 7

I felt the remnants of the adrenaline coursing through my system. I was feeling giddy though. I was surprised at how well the Neb handled those turns. I honestly didn't know that she could do that. I was just throwing the control stick around. Worked though. I glanced out the window to the Magellan. Big diamond shape ship. Made the Nebuchadnezzar look tiny. It bristled with weapons like some steroidal porcupine. Following behind were at least a dozen ships of all shapes and sizes. Cargo runners from the looks of it. Something was off though. It didn't make any sense, Captain whatever back at Luna station said that there wouldn't be any support for this. That we were supposed to make this run by ourselves.

I had to get some information. The Magellan should know something...right?

I undid the top buttons on my shirt. The unbuttoned part of it draped low, and I was left with a v-cut undershirt that showed off my awesome rack. (Do they still call it a rack in this time? I have to ask Vega. If only to see her blush again)

I hailed Magellan. The screen popped up with a bored looking zit faced teenager. He rattled off something about the Magellan before noticing me. You ever see those vid-plays where the soldiers suddenly snap ram rod straight when an officer walks in? Yea, that was him. Suddenly he wasn't so bored any more.

"How can I uh..help you?' His voice almost squeaked in excitement. Or lust. It's the same for teens really.

"I'm just looking for some info. Why's the Magellan escorting all these cargo ships?"

"ummm I can't..i can't tell you."

I put my arms underneath my chest and squeezed them together pushing my chest out. I put on a hurt look. "You sure?"

He started to look flustered and quickly looked ready to pop off. "Just tell me what you know. And this line is secure right?"

Kid looked confused at the word line but he quickly grasped the meaning. "Give...give me a second." He tapped away for a few seconds and then he smiled.

"We're secure. Though I don't really know much."

I suppressed a frown and smiled brightly. I tugged on the shirt pulling it away, but not far enough for him to actually see anything. That did it. The kid broke down and started babbling. Officially the Magellan was under direct orders from Navy Command to escort the ships to Gobi. Rumor amongst all the sailors however said that the Captain and Exec had been bribed by a couple of rich families to protect the ships. I thanked him sweetly and blew him a kiss. The damn kid nearly fell off of the chair. I swatted the off button and scowled.

I felt dirty getting information that way, but still it was necessary. But what did I learn? Not much. A rattle behind me had me turning around. Vega.

"Can't seem to leave me alone huh Vega?" I said.

Vega smiled, but it was forced. "Did you really have to do all that?"

I frowned. "I didn't like it anymore then you did. But we needed the info."

"And what did you find huh?"

"Nothing. Other then the fact that the Navy is hopelessly corrupt."

That brought Vega up short. "What?"

"Look at that the size of the Magellan. Just imagine how much it would cost to bribe it. Now imagine how much it would cost to bribe all the other Navy people so that they could do their new jobs? Navy ships don't just take off and do whatever they want. They have to tell others what they're doing."

Vega thought for a second. Then she placed her hands over face and leaned back against the door. I reached forward to do...something.

"The Foreguard."

"The what?"

"Foreguard. Old money. Very old. Like founding the Dominion in the 21st century old. They're the real power. Them and some new types called the Vanguard. Between the two of them they rule the Dominion. The senate, which is supposed to be elected by us, and even the President are controlled by the guards."

"And let me guess, the two are at each others throats?"

Vega nodded in complete despair. "The Forguard control the military right now. They're the only ones who could bribe the Magellan."

"What about the new money?"

"The Vanguard? They're only a century old. They don't have that much say...yet."

I leaned back and sighed. A corrupt government, corrupt military, this mission just kept on getting better. "Make the run, deliver the shit and get out." I said.

Vega nodded. "Corrupt government is their problem. We just want our money."

"That's the way it is."

"What about the pirates?" Vega asked.

"Why are you asking me? I'm new to your time."

"You seem to have this corrupt figuring thing out."

I raised an eyebrow and buttoned my shirt back. "Are you saying that I'm corrupt?"

Vega blanched and shook her head. I laughed. "Again probably just luck on their part. Space may be big but ships run on pre arranged lanes right? Just hang around those lanes and you're going to get lucky eventually. Shit they probably did that back in the days of wooden ships and what not."

Sinjin came in and sat down at the co pilots station. He twiddled with some dials and buttons and then announced "We're all set downstairs. Next to no damage and it's been fixed anyways."

"How are we on ammo?" Vega asked.

"Set as long as we don't pick a fight with a fleet."

"Why would the Forguard have anything to do with a terraforming accident?" I asked suddenly.

Vega thought for a second before speaking. "Probably one of their companies that screwed up. Now they're trying to make themselves look good."

"That's awfully cynical of you Vega. Am I a bad influence on you?"

Vega's entire and eloquent response was to stick her tongue out at me. I laughed again. I seemed to be doing that around Vega a lot recently. Don't ask me why. I don't know myself. The others soon joined us and we shot the shit for a bit before calling it a night. While everyone complained bitterly about the Guards side tracking the navy to protect their investments instead of the rest of us, but in the end we couldn't bring our selves to care.

Corruption and governments go hand in hand like shit and flies. As long as we got paid in the end, let the guards do whatever. One by one everyone drifted off to their respective rooms. Soon only Sinjin and I were left and one glance from me had him sprinting to his room.

I putt my feet up and leaned back in the chair. I enjoyed the sights of the stars and the endless expanse. It was beautiful. And eerily silent.

"HYPER STREAM RUPTURE DETECTED"

The console screamed at me and I fell off the chair in shock. The computer kept screaming until I punched it, shutting it up. A second after I managed to scramble to my feet, another monstrously sized diamond shaped ship tore into real space right above the Nebuchadnezzar.

Jesus H. Christ. Vega's ship was a gnat compared to these ships.

The com trilled and I hurriedly answered it. "Unknown vessel, this is the Pegasus. State your name and purpose."

"Um." I had to swallow before I could speak again. Yes, I was fucking intimidated. You would be too if a city sized ship suddenly appeared above you.

"This is the Nebuchadnezzar, a transport ship carrying relief supplies to Gobi. Just following the convoy with the Magellan's permission. We're uh, not in your way are we?"

That got a chuckle out of whoever was on the other side. "No you're not. You're clear to stay right were you are. Any movement towards either convoy will be translated as hostile. Is that understood?"

I looked up at the dark grey behemoth bristling with weapons. "Yea...Yea I understand you. Is there anything else?"

"Not unless you're interested in hearing me complain, no."

I laughed and felt some of the fear leave me. "Sorry but i'm not. Nebuchadnezzar out."

I let loose a large sigh and fell back into the chair. Why anyone needs a city sized ship is beyond me. What the fuck people. I maneuvered the Nebuchadnezzar from out from underneath the Pegasus and settled in between the two convoys. (With the Pegasus's permission of course) A long with the regular group of supply ships, several smaller but clearly military ships streamed in.

A full fleet to protect these ships. And we and who knows how many people had to make these runs by ourselves with no protection. Wait...why would they send two different types of relief? Unless they didn't know that alternate means of relief had been put in place. I sighed. That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

Well whatever, like the others said as long as we get paid. Let the government figure this shit out.

I put the ship in autopilot and headed to my room. I got into my room and started changing before the com chimed at me. Without thinking I hit and was brought into a group chat with the others. They all looked tired and confused. I leaned back to put a shirt on before joining the conversation. And by joining I mean explaining what the hell just happened.

Once they got a grasp of the situation, the others save Vega signed off.

"Scanned the wrong feed Jade?"

"You could say that. Never thought I'd see a ship like that so freaking close. It was...intimidating."

"Yea they are. Kinda frustrating how the guards get all this protection for their people-"

"Don't start. Yea it sucks but who gives a fuck? We can't do a goddamn thing about it."

Vega sighed and looked incredibly depressed. I felt bad about beating her across the face with reality, but it had to be done. Vega leaned over and I couldn't help but stare at her shorts covered ass. It was a fantastic sight. She got back the chair and started poking at a digi-tome. "We'll be landing near the northern pole. We hand the supplies over to the military and then we leave."

"Sounds good to me. Don't over think things, just take them as they are and move on. I all ready know what I'm going to spend my money on."

"What?"

"Strippers."

Vega burned red and I smirked at her. "Unless you want to give me a show for free."

"GOOD NIGHT JADE"

Vega logged off and I fell back roaring with laughter. The look on her face! Priceless!

I hit the button for the shower and the nozzle popped out. Fans in the ceiling thrummed to take away any steam. I started playing some hype, a direct descendent of heavy metal. After a scalding hot shower I grabbed an oversized shirt and slipped it on and fell on the bed.

Leaning against the wall, surrounded by pillows and thick blankets that made my bed more accurately described as a nest. It was perfect for movies or just relaxing. I had splurged and bought a large screen monitor for my room. I had convinced Cat to install it for me, on the grounds that at some point I watch a movie or two or three with her.

The wall panel slid back and I used the voice activation to choose my favorite movie The Scissoring. I loved it. Especially since there was no happy ending. Happy endings are for dull stories, stories that never come true. _Beck..Dad.._

I snorted and shook my head. I missed them. I will always miss them. But they're dead. I have to move on. I felt a single tear escape down my face as I fell asleep to the sounds of some teenagers getting slaughtered.

_Greater Earth Dominion founded in 2087 after the third world war. Managed to unify the whole planet under one rule in 2099 after the Unification Wars. _

_-C.H._


	8. Chapter 8

I yawned and stretched and gave a small squeak when my spine popped. It felt good though. I sighed and slowly got off the bed. Shower before anything else. I started taking off my sleep wear and hit the button for the shower nozzle. As the hot water hit me, I made a mental note to give Cat whatever she wanted for making sure we had hot water before we left Earth. After what seemed like not long enough, a loud shrill erupted. The twenty minute warning. I sighed and turned off the water. Even though the water was recycled, we couldn't just do whatever. But twenty minutes was long enough to wash my hair and and what not.

I debated on cutting my hair since it was waist length, but in the end I left it alone. I'll deal with it later. I got dressed and exited my room just as my stomach roared. I went to the galley and found Andre eating some cereal.

"You're up early." I said.

Andre looked at me "It's 13:30"

I stopped. "Really? How long was I out?"

Andre shrugged. "I don't know, maybe ten-twelve hours?"

I laughed. "No wonder I feel so rested." Andre laughed too. "Cat woke up, ate something and then went back to sleep. As far as I know chica, Sinjin and Jade are still asleep."

"Must be tired from that pirate encounter." I said grabbing some cereal.

"That's just you Vega." A voice said from directly behind me. I barely managed to stifle a shriek and spun around to face a smirking Jade. "Must you do that?!" I demanded.

"Do what? Talking?"

"You know exactly what i'm referring to!"

"Hmmm nope I don't." With that, she pushed right past me and started to get some cooking materials together. I fumed and sat down to eat. Soon the sounds of eggs frying filled the galley. Andre smirked at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. "How far are we from Gobi?" I asked.

Jade flipped the eggs and then said "About twenty hours."

"Time has flown by. Hey Jade how did you know you could fly the Nebuchadnezzar like that?" Andre asked. "Any computer help at all?"

Jade shook her head. "No. No help at all. I didn't even know that Nebuchadnezzar could fly like that. I was just throwing the control stick around."

Andre nearly choked on his cereal. I sighed, but having known this all ready I wasn't all that surprised any more. Jade was thinking for a few seconds before she said "I just...felt like I knew what I was doing. Like the Nebuchadnezzar was telling me what she could or couldn't do."

I thought and then said "Cat has said the same thing about the engines. I wonder if you both are tech-psi"

Andre nodded. "That would explain a lot."

Jade joined us at the table. 'Someone want to explain what the hell a tech-psi is?"

"A few decades ago some new types of people showed up. Mutants the government called them. They had special psionic powers. You know, like mind reading and bending spoons. Telepaths, Telekinetics and a lot of others. Some like you and probably Cat don't have anything like that, just an overwhelmingly awesome feel for technology. Explains why Cat can always fix something, and how you just know how to fly." I explained.

Jade frowned. "Since when have I been a mutant?" she demanded, looking lost. I put my hand on her arm and I knew she was distressed because she didn't pull her arm away. "It's probably just latent. And besides even if you could read minds or anything like that, you're still Jade."

"Yea, you're still Jade even if you can fly the Neb like a twenty year vet." Andre said. "I mean flying skills aside you're still crabby, mean, cruel." Andre said as ticked off each finger. Jade picked up his bowl of cereal and dumped it on his head. Andre just laughed and said "See?!"

Jade fought it, but I could see the smile coming to her face and I laughed. Cat came in a little bit later and sat down for her breakfast. We talked about this and that and Jade managed to convince Cat to admit that she was Tech-Psi.

"I knew it!" Andre had announced and the playfully teased her. Cat looked worried about what I would say but I only shrugged and said that it explained how she could fix everything she got her hands on. Cat coached Jade on how to handle being a Tech-Psi. Surprisingly it was all instinctive. According to Cat it was a really weak level of psi. It meant that Cat and Jade had a better grasp of certain parts of technology then anyone else. Jade was disappointed that it wouldn't grow into any high level psi abilities.

"How could I have this though? I'm from the twenty-first century."

Cat shrugged. "You ever felt like you just knew something? Even back then?"

Jade thought. "I figured out how to fly two engine plane pretty fast. Was going to get my helicopter license later."

"What's a helicopter?"

"Nevermind Cat. The point is, I've always had this psi ability?"

"Yea, but it only really works with hands on things, like flying the Neb or anything mechanical."

"Explains how I got my drivers license so easily." Jade muttered.

Sinjin showed up and we all talked some more, just passing the time. Jade bullied me into seeing some horror films with her. When I pointed out that I would have to go into her room, Jade immediately countered with setting up a holo projector on the obs deck. I ordered/asked everyone else to come for one big movie night. (What? I don't trust Jade not to pull something. Though I admit I like the idea of it just being her and me up in obs) Andre could not wipe this crap-eating grin off of his face. I ignored him.

A loud beeping got our attention. We left the galley and headed up to the cockpit. It was a voice only hail from the Pegasus. I answered it and immediately an authoritative voice came in.

"Nebuchadnezzar this is the Pegasus. Do you read me?"

I answered the hail and said "We read you Pegasus, got a wrong feed there?"

"No nothing like that. We're jumping straight to Gobi. Here are the coordinates. You are to jump exactly here and no where else. Go anywhere else and you will be treated as a hostile ship. Is that understood?"

"Scanning you loud and clear Pegasus. When are we all jumping?"

"In exactly two hours. Best of luck Nebuchadnezzar. Pegasus out." The comm snapped off and I smiled. "Looks like this wont take all day."

"Why would they suddenly want to jump now?" Sinjin asked.

"Who cares?" Jade said.

"Cat?" I asked.

"Engines will be ready pronto cap!" Cat took off bouncing down the hall.

"Andre could you help her?" Jade asked.

Andre nodded. "Sure thing chica."

Andre left humming a new tune to himself. Jade and I started humming along with him. It was an easy tune, but still catchy and nice. He really needed to get into the music making business. I sent Sinjin to check on the cargo. We really should have checked on that earlier.

"Everything's green Vega." Jade said.

"Okay. Now we wait."

And wait we did. It took forever but we got word from Pegasus. It was time to jump. The Magellan went first. It should have been impossible for a ship of that size to jump, but it did. The cargo ships followed one by one. Then it was our turn. Nebuchadnezzar glowed blue and the blue disc erupted in front of us and we entered the stream.

It was beautiful. The endless stream of colors that collided together. An endless river of colors that flew together and went apart far to fast for anyone to identify. I loved watching it. Far to soon for my liking, we erupted into real space. This time I was prepared for the sudden stop. Even though I didn't go anywhere, Jade still had her hands around my waist. "I didn't go anywhere this time" I said happily.

"Clearly." Magellan hailed us and said that we could move onto Gobi. Gobi looked like hell. There wasn't any other way to describe it. Even from orbit we could see that the north was completely frozen over. The southern oceans were nothing but storms. Massive hurricanes that made any on Earth look pathetic rampaged across the planet. Jade pulled up the screen and zoomed in on one of the continents. A tsunami raced across the land, swallowing and flattening everything. Lightning storms ripped the land apart. One hit a city and immediately destroyed it.

"People still live here?" Jade asked incredulously.

I couldn't believe it myself. "How does this?" Jade couldn't finish her sentence. I got on the comm and hailed the Northern most city. It took a bit to get through the weather, but I managed to establish a contact. An extremely harassed woman answered the comm. Without even asking who we were, she demanded that we land at this spot.

Jade looked worried but she aimed the Neb into atmo. The descent was bumpy as anything. Jade had one hundred percent concentration and the Neb rattled and shook.

"Jade." I said.

"I got it. I got it. Come on baby. Talk to me. Talk damn it."

Neb must have talked because Jade jerked the controls and Nebuchadnezzar stabilized. After what was the bumpiest and chaotic ride I had ever been on we finally came upon the city. Most of the sky scrapers had been sheared off by the wind. Even through the Neb we could hear the wind howling. Snow obscured our sight. "How's everyone?" I called through the ship wide com.

"Good in the engine room!" Andre called. "I'm okay in the galley!" Sinjin said. "Cargo?" I asked.

"Strapped in, nothing broke!"

That's something at least. "Breaking now! Strap in people!" Jade yelled.

The micro thrusters fired and we shuddered with the ship. I stumbled over to the copilot's seat and strapped in. "Damn weather! It's shaking us up!" Jade yelled in frustration.

Jade and I worked together to slow down the Neb. At long last we came up to the landing pad. The side engines rotated down and we braked and slowly set down. The engines turned off and rumbled to a stop. Jade and I looked at each other and giggled, until we broke out laughing. Laughing from relief or something else I don't know.

"Maybe there's something about this Tech-Psi thing after all." Jade said. "Why wasn't it known in 2013?"

I shrugged. "Probably wasn't enough people for the government to take notice. My dad said that the old democracies weren't as nosy as the government today."

"Makes sense. Come one. Lets unload this shit. I want to get paid."

"Yea yea Ms. Greedy."

We dropped the ramp and immediately people were swarming over the cargo. Jade growled in annoyance and the others looked annoyed as well.

"Captain Vega?" A man said. I couldn't figure out any details about him because he was covered in winter gear. We had our own on of course, but it didn't help much. All ready snow was covering the bottom of the ramp.

"Yes that's me." I said.

He tossed a coin purse at me. "Here's your payment. As soon as we finish unloading, you'll need to take off. If you're here by nightfall, your engines will literally be frozen." With that he turned and walked away. I wanted to call out and ask why didn't he just leave, but Andre put a hand on my shoulder and shook his head. I sighed. Why didn't they leave? It's obvious from orbit that the planet is tearing itself apart.

Jade took the coin purse from me and ran a scanner over it. "All there. Lets leave. I think I saw a fueling station in orbit." I nodded dumbly and hit the button to close the ramp. We went through the pre flight checks and warmed up the engines. Jade tried her best, but leaving was almost chaotic as arriving. The winds were picking up and a new storm was forming just south of the city.

We pulled up the fueling station. I used the fuel funds that all of us set aside to fill up and grab any supplies that were available. Jade had gotten more confident with piloting it and was immensely enjoying it.

I never thought that I would be friends with two different psi. I was somewhat jealous over the fact that piloting and engineering came naturally to them, but then I remembered the fear that Cat had on her face when she admitted that she was a tech-psi. Was it really that bad for them?

Jade came down from the cock pit. "We're on autopilot. Heading for the Brontes system. It's near by and should take only a week. Planet called Haven might have some jobs for us."

"Sounds fine." I said.

Jade sighed and then grabbed my shoulders and frog marched me to the obs deck. My protesting was met with stony silence. Once seated on the couch, Jade started up the holo projector. I almost flinched until the words rolled across the screen. A pirate movie. One of my favorites. I leaned back happily and not so accidentally leaned against Jade. Jade's face twitched but she didn't say anything.

"Thanks for not jumping. Fuel's expensive." I said.

"I know. A week in space wont be so bad."

One by one the others joined us to watch the movie. All of us sitting together slowly took my mind off of the fate of the people on Gobi.

Maybe that was Jade's plan all along?

_Hope you all enjoyed._

_-C.H._


	9. Chapter 9

Life in space isn't bad at all. There was a lot to do besides chores and routine maintenance. Tease Vega, better learn the controls of the ship, tease Vega, make music with Andre, avoid Sinjin, chill with Cat, it goes on and on. It was currently a little after midnight and I was watching the news in the galley. (I know, shocking isn't it?) Cycling through the different channels on the digi-screen, I spotted something that looked vaguely familiar. I'd recognize that torn planet anywhere. Gobi Minor. What fresh hell had been heaped upon that poor planet? I flicked the little box and the news article came up. Some blond bimbo with oversized boobs came on and her voice filled the galley.

"Unfortunately the terraforming crews were unable to regain control of the terraformers, and the planet wide storms spiraled out of control. Of the eighty-thousand people there, only fifteen hundred were able to make it off planet. Vanguard spokesman Diego Fuentes had this to say"

The camera cut away to a clean cut handsome latino. He was wearing a snappy suit and practically screamed _money._ "This tragic accident must be remembered. For too long our present rulers have left the terraforming companies to their own devices. Because of that, so many lives were lost in a clearly preventable accident. I call upon the senate to start an investigation into this senseless tragedy and to remember that they serve the people, not the companies."

The news returned to miss giant fake boobies as she repeated everything that Fuentes had said. At the bottom, words flashed stating that Gobi Minor wouldn't be habitable for another fifty years. The natural climate had turned into planet wide storms that were destroying everything,and throwing in an increasingly unstable atmosphere, and you've got a recipe for a dead planet. I wondered how much of Fuentes's words were true. I'll probably never know. All that mattered was that too many people were dead. Way to fucking many.

"Jade? What are you still doing awake?" a voice behind me asked. Shit. Vega. She had been worried about the people on Gobi and I had only just recently managed to get her mind off of it. I hurriedly switched the channel to another station going on about a riot on some planet called Robyn's Nest.

"Just watching the news, scoping for potential jobs." I lied smoothly. Vega bought and shrugged sleepily. She yawned and went over to the fridge, rifling through it. While she did that I wondered why switched the channel. Since when did I care about Vega's state of mind? When did I start caring about Vega in general? I mean, she is kind of sort of my friend, but...oh nevermind i'll worry about this later.

I picked up my mug of cof...Recaff and downed it one gulp. I felt a slight caffeinated enduced tingle and loved it. Such a fantastic drink no matter what the century. Vega sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal and slowly began to eat it.

"If you're so tired, why are you eating?" I asked.

"Because i'm to hungry to be tired, and too tired to be sleepy." Vega thought for a second and then said "Does that make sense?"

"No."

Vega pursed her lips and frowned. I rolled my eyes and went to get more Recaff. "I got in touch with Haven port control; we'll be landing at Haven city in the morning, so be ready." Vega said.

"Haven city? On the planet Haven? That's original." I commented. Vega chuckled and said "Haven's a mega-city planet. You know, one huge city that covers the entire planet. Haven has like ten billion people or something like that."

"Ten billion." I said and then laughed. "In my time, seven billion people was considered a lot, and we were freaking over the idea that the population would reach ten plus."

Vega laughed. "You're going to have to tell me about the twenty-first century. It's sounds like a fascinating time."

"You kidding me Vega? It was big news when we landed a rover on Mars, and right now we're traveling through space on a space ship to a city planet with ten billion people. Sorry babe, but you got the interesting times."

Vega smiled again and said "Maybe so, but you had some interesting things too."

"Maybe so, but not as interesting as this!"

Vega and I talked for a bit longer before we went to sleep. I'm pretty sure my head had just hit the pillow when the intercom buzzed loudly. Cursing and mumbling things that didn't make the best of sense on a good day, I damn near broke the thing answering it.

I snarled something unintelligent into the comm. There was silence for a second before Vega asked that I come up to the cockpit. I got dressed and swished some mouthwash before climbing out of my room.

"What is-" My question was cut off by the sight in front of me. The planet really was one huge city. Even from orbit I could see an endless sea of sky scrapers. They had to be hundreds of stories high! As the Nebuchadnezzar turned to start its descent, I spotted the night side. The endless expanse of multi colored lights were visible and so beautiful. I couldn't believe the sight.

"I thought you would want to see" Vega said.

I could barely say thanks. How in the hell does anything in the twenty-first century compare to this? Cat was also mesmerized by the sights and was talking non stop. (As usual)

"We'll be landing on the day side. Everyone will have time to go shopping."

Cat squealed and jumped and hugged Vega while Sinjin and Andre laughed and cheered. I didn't say anything because I felt so out of place. The others knew where to go and what to shop at, but all my experiences were about five hundred years out of date. Some things shouldn't have changed...right?

While I was lost in my own thoughts, Vega landed the Nebuchadnezzar. The landing was so smooth that if I had been asleep I probably wouldn't have noticed. A large circle that the Neb barely fit on served as the landing pad. We descended down the landing pad and as soon as we were off, Vega pushed a button and closed it. To my surprise we all stuck together instead of splitting off and doing whatever.

The others were great at pointing out what to buy and what to look out for in this mega city thing. It was so different from LA...LA was just one huge ass city, this...this was something else entirely. After some shopping and in general just wandering around Vega announced that we would go to a Joint.

After clearing some confusion over what a Joint was in the twenty-sixth century, we got in a sky-tram train thing and headed down to the mid levels. Getting out of the tram I stood and stared at a partially run down club. "This is a Joint?" I asked.

Vega nodded. "Yep. Best places for indies to look for work."

"Indies?"

"Independent space workers. Oh, watch out for business workers, they like to look down on us indies."

"Why?"

Vega shrugged. "Reasons vary."

I got the feeling that it bothered her but I didn't comment on it. I expected a seedy bar with signs decorating a wall and covered in a hazy smoke cloud hanging near the ceiling. What I got instead was extremely loud kries (the descendent of dubstep) blasting and hundreds of people occupying the dance floor with multi color lights flashing all over the goddamn place.

"We're supposed to find a job here?!" I yelled over the noise.

Vega smiled and yelled back "Yea! On the far wall there are notices for people who want something run! But that's for later lets dance!"

Vega grabbed my arm and yanked me to the dance floor. Cat took off to chat with some hunk spacer and Andre soon found himself surrounded by a couple hot chicks. Sinjin to my shock managed to strike up a conversation with the bartender lady.

All other thought was lost when Vega and I got onto the floor. Dancing surprisingly hadn't changed much. People moved towards each other and back and swayed with the beat. Some were even grinding to my shock. Vega moved easily and exactly in time with the beat and I couldn't help move with her. My old dancing lessons came roaring back and I moved on my own to the beat. At first we danced apart as friends would, but then we moved closer and closer together, standing face to face. The music faded into the back ground as soon as we got within touching distance. Her front against mine, her arms snaking around me, mine linking around her ass and pulling her tightly against me; the both of us still moving to the beat.

Oh my god...i couldn't believe this. But i'm certainly not going to complain. Especially when To-Vega moved her mouth to my neck. (my main weak spot)

Thats when the world blew up.

I rolled on the ground coughing dust out of my lungs. The world was ringing from the noise. Outside a cop car with the sirens still screaming plunged to the ground. What the fuck was going on? And why the fuck now?!

"Vega!" I shouted hoarsely. I coughed a couple times and then yelled again. Vega moaned and rolled to her feet. "Wha happen?"

"Explosion. Big one. Find others." I grunted not really thinking. Lurching to our feet we shuffled through the people on the floor, helping those that needed it. The bartender handed Sinjin over to us and then took off for the floor, tearing up her shirt to make bandages. Sinjin was fine save for the cut on his head. Hunky space man that Cat was with had unintentionally shielded her from the blast. He had several cuts but I figure that he would live.

We tore up part of our clothes making bandages for him seeing as he did protect our friend even if it was unintentional. He thanked us and then apologized to half dressed blushing Cat about not being able to finish up tonight.

I quickly got Cat to give him her inter-signal number while Vega went to get Andre. Hunk man went off to search for his friends while we (im)patiently waited for the other two. They showed up dragging a shell shocked boy with this massive fro and glasses.

"Who the fuck is this?" I demanded.

"Robbie. He helped Andre. We're going to pay him back." Vega answered. I rolled my eyes and got up from the floor. "Stay together!" Vega shouted.

We grabbed hands and tore off to outside.

"Think the sky tram is working?" Andre asked. A massive explosion ripped through the air and sky tram plummeted from the mag rails.

"No." I answered.

"How do we get back?" I yelled in frustration. "Look! The police car!" Cat yelled and pointed at the abandoned car. "Cat fix it! Jade fly it!" Vega yelled.

Cat and I sprinted towards the car and I plopped myself into the drivers seat. I felt that all knowing tingle from the back of my mind and I waited as Cat triple checked everything. Once she cleared it all I started up the engine and it lifted off. I laughed and stepped on the accelerator which rocketed the car forward and only barely managed to stop before I ran over the others. I cheekily smiled at the terror struck people. Vega rolled her eyes before joining everyone and piling into the car. It was cramped seeing as it wasn't designed to hold this many people.

I pulled the lever and raised the altitude until we were at the upper levels. It was a full blown war zone. Civilians ran around smashing to cops and each other. "Oh my god!" Vega yelled, just as three people tossed a cop right over the side of the ledge. Police vehicles raced over and battled with civ cars. Some slammed into each other and exploded or plummeted to the depths.

We could hear and endless cacophony of gunshots. Molotov cocktails flew overhead and smashed into anything. People that were caught on fire ran around screaming until they either died or fell off the side of the walk ways. I turned the car and watched one line of police and civs smashed together in a hellish storm.

"Jade..get us out of here." Vega whispered.

I nodded dumbly. Cat fiddled with the radio until she got it working.

"_Explosion at a Joint in the mid levels. Looks like Adam's car crashed out side the place. It's what destroyed it. Sorry Jameson." _a woman said.

A man came on and swore violently. The communiques between the various police forces established one thing. They were completely outmatched and all ready being over run. Casualties all ready numbered in the thousands. This was a world wide riot.

"What started it?" The new kid..Robbie(?) asked.

"Here." Cat said handing us a digi tome. The news flashed about the riots that were happening right underneath us. "It started off as a protest against the ruling that the Terraforming company responsible for Gobi wouldn't be held accountable." I said.

They all looked confused and I quickly explained. "Gobi was torn apart by a bunch of storms. Planet wide. Terraforming company fault. Only about fifteen hundred people made it off world. The rest died."

I don't think i've ever seen so many horror struck faces before. "And the foreguard aren't doing anything about that?" Vega practically squeaked.

"Yea they are." I said. Everyone turned to look at me and I said "They're protecting their investments. So what if seventy plus thousand people just died?"

Everyone fell back as they tried to digest what I just said. From the looks of them it wasn't sitting to well with them. I with my natural cynicism handled the information just fine. Luckily for us the Nebuchadnezzar was parked outside the rioting areas. We ditched the car about half a klick away and pushed it over the side. Hopefully it wouldn't be found any time soon.

I praised the god that I didn't believe in upon finding that the Nebuchadnezzar was still in one piece. We bundled on board and hotly debated on what to do. Robbie proved to useful by treating Sinjin's cut and our various scrapes and bruises. Turned out he had some medical training but didn't explain where he got it. He also didn't explain why he still had that creepy doll thing with him.

In the end our decision to leave was made for us when the planetary guard arrived and opened fire on the rioting civs. Missiles and bullets streaked into the civs and blasted them apart. A rocket flew from one group of civs and slammed into a twin turbine fast attack craft thing. It blew apart and the flaming wreckage slammed into people. The walkways were filled with people fighting. Civs beat cops, cops beat civs, military just attacked everyone. People fell screaming off the side, and we could hear the sounds of people dying. It sounded like hell as their screams echoed through the area.

No one could believe the sight. I powered up the Nebuchadnezzar and slowly took off. We cleared atmo pretty damn fast, leaving the burning planet behind. A few hours later we were drifting through space. I had set a course to some farm world called Tangier IX. Nobody cared. I didn't.

Vega showed Robbie his room and trailed off to the obs deck. I followed her. Once up their neither of us said anything.

We just stared at the stars, and tried not to think about Haven burning.

_Vanguard- Political party. Officially a reformist party. Unofficially..._

_Foreguard- not a political party, just a collection of ridiculously rich people who run the government from behind the scenes. _

_Haven: Population 10.3 billion. Settled in 2317. _

_I'm addicted to writing sci-fi._

_-C.H._


	10. Chapter 10

I ducked my head, and the bullet slammed into the crate. I ducked behind the crate and slowly raised my head.

"Why are people shooting at us?!" I demanded. A form landed next to me and I nearly shot it. It turned out to be Andre and he jumped up and shot at our attackers. A man went down with a shriek, and I peeked around the corner. Jade had that triumphant smirk of hers, and one of the bandits was cursing and holding his leg.

Cat pushed a mound of crates over trapping the other two guys underneath them. "Well that was exciting." Andre said coming out from his cover, i followed him slowly. Jade was all ready out and interrogating one of our attackers.

"Why did you attack us?" Jade demanded.

When the man didn't say anything, she kicked him in the side. "Talk or I'll put a bullet in your shoulder."

"Okay! okay! We heard rumors of a weapons drop! Worth a lot of money!"

"Weapons drop?" I asked looking at Jade. Jade shrugged, looking just as confused as we did. The man shook and hobbled to his feet. "Youse gonna let me go now?" I shook my gun in a dismissive motion and the man started to limp away. He didn't get far. A rifle cracked and his head exploded. We stared dumbstruck at the sight.

"Good thing we're not here to kill you, cuz standing around dumbstruck like that aint good for your health." A man said stepping off from an ATV. "You must be Captain Vega. Here's your money." He said tossing a coin purse at me. I snatched it out of the air and looked inside, it was full.

I tossed the money to Andre and stared back at the guy. He had clay colored hair and and a thin but strong frame. Nice strong eyes, handsome too. While his guys went to check out the boxes, we started up a conversation. I don't mind to brag, but I am a bit of a social space-moth, and we were practically best friends in matter of minutes. In the back of my mind I still wondered about the supposed weapons drop, but my attention was more centered on the handsome guy in front of me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jade leaning pretty close to this brunette woman and talking away. I felt angry at the sight..no not angry..jealous...why would I be feeling that? Especially with Jade of all people?

Clay-hair got closer to me and I felt myself moving towards him. Before anything could happen, my ear piece screeched into my ear and I clasped it gasping in pain. I glanced over at Jade who was holding her ear looking furious. Sinjin's voice came on "Cap we got incoming, looks like interpol."

"Got it, we're on our way back." I sighed. "Sorry but we gotta run. Interpol is coming."

Clay hair sighed, "It was nice to meet you. Hope to see you again." He gave me a light peck on the lips before moving on and barking orders at the people gathered. Jade brazenly groped the brunette who giggled scandalously. They waved good bye and Jade jumped on the rat. She started the rat and spun it around, and the rest of us jumped on. Nebuchadnezzar was parked a little over three kilometers away, so that the police wouldn't find it. It worked a little seeing as a shoot out and then talking happened before we were found.

We made it back the Nebuchadnezzar in good time. It was hidden in a small canyon, in a cave. "You think they'll find us here?" Cat asked.

"I doubt it. Unless they do a thorough scan." Jade answered.

"No point in taking chances, so lets get out of here." I said. Jade nodded and walked off. Andre and Cat promptly started teasing me about clay hair. I'm pretty sure Jade froze for a second before walking off. We joked around and Jade announced that we were taking off. We made our way to the galley and started telling stories, often exaggerating them just to be comical.

Robbie joined us and told stories about his life, and some of them had us rolling on the floor. We felt the Nebuchadnezzar lift up and then race away.

"Ladies we are leaving Apex. Be clearing atmo in about fifteen minutes. Enjoy the ride."

"Hey Robbie, Sinjin and I are here too you know!" Andre said.

"Yea, as I said _Ladies_, enjoy the ride."

Andre grumbled good naturally while the other guys didn't look so pleased. Cat announced that we would be having a night of drinking up on the obs deck. We all celebrated that. After three successful jobs in row after that nightmare on Haven, we were due for a little celebration. I left the others talking and went up to the cock pit.

Jade was humming to herself and setting the coordinates for Tangier XI in.

"Cat says we're having a drinking party up in obs tonight." I said, standing behind her.

"Should be fun." Jade said with an exceedingly disinterested tone. "Something up?" I asked warily. "What? Oh nothing. I should have gotten Ashley's number. If that was even her real name. She had a nice ass."

My good mood fizzled out like it had been doused in water. "The one you had an interesting way of saying good bye to?" I muttered, glaring at the back of her head. "Yes that one. And speaking of good byes, nice way to say good bye to mister handsome." Jade snapped.

"At least I didn't grope him."

"That's because you're a prude that doesn't know how to have a good time."

My jaw hit the floor. "I know how to have a good time!"

Jade just raised her eyebrow and turned back to the consoles. I muttered under my breath, annoyed at how easily Jade could set me off. "I didn't know you liked girls."

Jade shrugged. "I like anyone who is attractive. Male or female. Though i'll be honest, as hot as Ashley was, I wouldn't go any farther then a one night stand with her."

"A what?"

"A one night stand."

Oh right like that clarifies things. My confused look must have gotten the message across because Jade rolls her eyes and then says "I fuck her then leave. And probably never see her again."

Oh. I'm pretty sure I'm blushing over how bluntly Jade said that. "What do you call a one night stand in 2529?"

I shrugged. "Never heard anyone name...it..it just happened and people moved on."

"Hm. Well whatever. So."

"So what?"

"Did you get hair boy's number?"

"No..i didn't even get his name."

Jade didn't say anything, but i'm pretty sure I heard her mutter "good" Why she would say that is beyond me. I didn't ask though, even if she just denied saying she would tear me apart to just to prove a point. Or for fun. Which ever reason came first. "We're a couple weeks from Tangier XI. Do you know anything about our mysterious employer?" Jade asked.

I shook my head. "No, other then he's giving us a ton of money to run stuff places on the sole condition we don't look inside the containers. Sinjin tried to track the signal when he or she contacted us but the only thing he got was a warning not to do that."

"Strange. The contact also said not to get searched. Think it was weapons?"

"It might-" Jade's answer was cut off by the news-watch screen suddenly blaring to life, startling the both of us. "Can't anything on this damn ship start quietly?" Jade demanded. I wondered that myself. An asian woman appeared on screen and announced "In the Apex system, the planet Apex has declared independence from the Dominion! Self-proclaimed President Andrew Mace has said his planet's independence is due to the supposed rampant corruption plaguing the Dominion. He claims that his planet is willing to fight for their independence and dares the Dominion to try and suppress them. He also called for other planets in the Dominion to rise in rebellion and escape. President Heartstone has this to say."

The vid cut to a man in a pressed suit with snow white hair. He didn't look all that remarkable to be honest. Just rich and old. "This rebellion will be punished. Treason and Sedition against the lawful government will be met with justice. As I speak the twenty-ninth fleet is moving to the Apex system to restore order and civilization to the now lawless system."

The screen minimized and went back to the reporter. She prattled on for bit, but Jade and I ignored her. "So I think we should leave. Like now." Jade said.

"Yep. Jump us."

Jade nodded and I got on the comm and warned everyone that were going to jump. I also told them what was happening on Apex. After going through the necessary precautions, Jade entered the coordinates and prepared to us to jump. Before we could get anywhere, an entire naval fleet materialized into real space. There was at least three of those diamond shape city-ships and at least a dozen smaller but still deadly ships.

"So..." Jade started.

"Put us on the moon." I said, awestruck. So much military might right there in front of us. Best to get out of its way as soon as possible. "That party of Cat's." I said.

"What about it?"

"It's mandatory. Getting everyone's mind off of everything."

Jade nodded and started moving the Nebuchadnezzar to the moon. I watched as another ship tried to make a jump and failed spectacularly. It glowed brightly for a second and then just stopped. How could..unless...oh my god. "Gravity wells." I whispered. I hadn't realized that I had spoken out loud until Jade's questioning grunt brought me back to reality.

"You know how you can't jump if you're near anything that has gravity? Like planets and space stations?"

"yea?"

"Rumor-mill had it that the military had created gravity projectors that keep a ship in real space. They were called gravity wells."

"Well holy shit." The Nebuchadnezzar accelerated until we were orbiting the moon. With those gravity wells up we weren't going anywhere, and neither of us were in the least bit interested of running the blockade that was being set up. Hours passed as we tried to figure out how to get away from what was presumably going to be an active war zone pretty soon. All plans were shot down when some Admiral announced over an open comm that all ships had to stay near the moon or be destroyed. Any attempts to run the blockade would be seen as hostile and treated as such.

"Time to start drinking." Jade said right after that announcement and i agreed.

We all headed up to obs deck and started drinking. Loud music blasted and we had ourselves a good time. It definitely was because we enjoyed each others company, but it also could have been that we were trying to drown out our fears at being caught in war zone. I mean, Apex didn't have any space ships, but who knows what's going to happen?

Jade had people laughing with her grossly exaggerated story of how I was acting with Clay-Hair. I was laughing myself, though I think I told myself that she would pay for that later. Andre tried to make a new song, but was to drunk to actually make sense. Which was fine because when we tried to sing along, we just botched the thing. I don't think anyone came close to being on key.

Hours and several empty bottles later, everyone was passed out somewhere on obs in various positions. Robbie had lost his shirt, but thankfully had fallen asleep before he lost his pants as well. Andre passed out on the couch while Cat had passed out curled up in a corner. I'm pretty sure I saw Sinjin's feet behind the newly acquired couch. Jade shuffled past me. For a five hundred year old girl, she could drink. She outdrank everyone and looked and acted only tipsy. She lifted the bottle up and chugged the rest of it, before chucking it and laughing when it smashed against the wall. I laughed to, though only because my eyes were glued to her backside.

It's a nice backside.

Jade turned around and attempted to saunter over to me. I think I attempted to saunter back to her, but I ended up tripping on air. Or my feet. Or maybe both. I think it was both. Either way I ended up in Jade's arms and we both ended up on the floor.

"You clumsy." Jade grumped.

"You up shut"

"You're drunk." Jade grumbled.

"So are you!"

"hmm nope I don't get drunk. Or hangovers. Or sweat."

I giggled. "First time..for...something. Yep. First time." Jade shook her head violently and attempted to stand up. She dragged me up and then fell on me. "Gravity works!" She announced upon landing. We both giggled. I felt the temperature starting to rise. Both of us starting lifting our shirts up, but it became to much work to finish so we gave up. Jade rolled off of me cuddled up into my side. I draped myself over her, and we passed out together.

The sun blared through my closed eyelids and I groaned. I attempted to lift my hand, but it was caught on something. I huffed in irritation before cracking my eye open to see what I was caught on. Where my hand was had me awake and sitting up in a heart beat. The rapid motion made my hangover worse and I fought the urge to vomit. My head swam for a few seconds before I regained some semblance of a working brain. My hand was in Jade's shirt. My other hand was on her butt. In my horror, I damn near tore her shirt off yanking my hand back.

Looking around confirmed that the others were still asleep. Thank God. I'd never hear the end of it if someone had seen the sight. In my fuddled thinking, I tried to get up to get some pain relievers for my head. I didn't get very far. Namely because Jade's hands were in my pants and my shirt. Oh. My. God. Could this get even bett...worse?Jade snuggled into my side and mumbled under her breath.

I gently wormed my way out her grip, and felt a...loss without her around me or touching me. Probably just another part of being hungover. I stumbled over to the table and went through all of the trash on it before finding the pain relievers. Grabbing the conveniently placed bottle of water, I downed it and a couple pills. Almost immediately I started to feel like a real person. Normally I didn't drink enough to get a hangover, but clearly last night was different. Not gonna happen again.

I glanced over at the fleet, and gasped. They were moving! I ran over and quickly shook Jade awake. Jade woke up looking a little frazzled but otherwise fine. She helped me wake the others up. While I helped them with their hangovers, Jade went and stared out at the fleet. I didn't pay it any mind, being more concerned with making sure Cat didn't vomit on me when Jade gasped in horror.

We all turned and looked, just in time to see the Dominion ships open fire on the Apex. Lances of red-yellow fire rained down on the planet, causing massive explosions. Smaller bright dots raced down as well, and when they hit the surface, a massive explosion erupted, shoving the clouds near them out of the way. Even orbiting the moon we could see the mushroom shaped explosions clearly.

The fire from the ships fanned outwards, covering every square centimeter of Apex.

The dominion was destroying Apex. And everyone on it.

_I'm not so sure I feel about this chapter. Tell me, what do you think? _

_-C.H._


	11. Chapter 11

We all stared at the growing storm of fire that descended on Apex. It was a Holocaust. Nothing else. "How...How many people on Apex?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted the answer or not.

"Twenty...twenty million." Sinjin answered.

"We're getting out of here." I said.

"Keep going to Tangier XI." Vega said, still staring at the destruction. I nodded and sprinted off to the cock pit. I strapped in and powered up the stream engine. Almost immediately the engine powered up, and I moved the Neb away from the moon. The system trilled announcing that I was away from any form of gravity. I didn't hesitate. I announced to everyone that we were jumping and tore a hole in space and jumped away from Apex.

Due to the horribly volatile nature of jumps I had to stay on the bridge for hours. Vega came by with food and drink and let me leave to use the bathroom. I took the time to shower and change clothes and all of that basic hygiene stuff. Vega and I stared out for awhile, not saying anything. How could we say anything? How do you handle seeing twenty million people get killed...no murdered?

When entered real space again, the comms chimed and Vega answered it. "So now you see how cruel the Dominion is. How would you like to take a stand and join us in freeing the billions of people from the tyranny of the Dominion?"

Vega hit mute and called everyone to the bridge. "We all saw what the Dominion did. Do any of you want to join a rebellion?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but we should help if not join. Normally I don't care...but they just killed twenty million people." I said.

Andre sighed and ran his hand through his dread locks. "What Jade said. But I gotta say we can't do any fighting. Neb can't handle that."

Cat spoke up "If they give us a better engine and weapons, we can run stuff for them. But no big battles. Don't want to go through that again."

We all turned to ask her about that but she clammed up and refused to say anything. Robbie agreed to run cargo for this rebellion. Only Sinjin refused but he was outvoted and we all suggested that he leave when he complained about the risks.

Vega un muted the comms and told the voice our terms. The voice called himself Arbiter of Justice, gave us the coordinates for a landing zone on Tangier XI. When we landed a group of people stood there waiting for us, and helped us load supplies onto the Neb. The weapons and weapon parts were stuffed into hidden compartments. No Dominion soldier would ever find them even they searched the Neb for a year.

To my...pleasure, Vega chatted with a few people but didn't seem to click on an intimate level with any of them. One of the guys gave Vega the coordinates for the drop off point. We refueled and then started the start up sequence to take off.

"So Cat's seen a big battle somewhere." I said to Vega. "Know which one she was talking about?"

Vega shook her head. "I wish I did, but there have been a lot of fights in recent years. I'd need to hear more before I could tell you."

"Miss Chatter-mouth can't get her to talk?"

"I am not a chatter-mouth!" Vega snapped indignantly.

I just raised an eyebrow at her and she fumed and grumbled to herself. "It was probably on a planet that rebelled. More of them have been doing that in recently. They all lost."

I nodded. "Makes sense. So where are we going?" I asked, turning from the console

Vega looked worried before saying "Haven."

I turned back to the console. "We jump?"

"Yes. Have to get there soon. We'll get paid and get the systems upgraded on the Neb."

"Hopefully there aren't any riots this time."

Vega nodded and helped during the long jump. When finally reached the Haven system, I was tired as hell. Something about jumps just saps the energy out of you, like you just ran a marathon. And I don't think it was just because you have to stay at your station the entire freaking time. We were at forty-seven hours away from Haven, so I set the autopilot and nearly ran over Vega who was holding two plates. I eagerly grabbed the fake steak knock off and devoured it. God I was hungry. Vega chuckled as I devoured everything on the plate.

"How are the others?" I asked.

"Cat's and Andre are fine, they both want to help but are too scared to do any heavy fighting. Robbie agrees with them and Sinjin's sulking in obs."

"Poor him." I said without a shred of sympathy. He just saw the government commit genocide and he doesn't want to do anything about it because it might put him in danger? And people call me selfish. I sat back against the console, careful not to push any buttons and thought. Most people would flat out join a rebel movement, but could we really do that? We're not soldiers. We're cargo runners. Would we really help in a fight or just get in the way?

Or could we help by just running cargo? We weren't wanted or even known. We could even spy for the rebels. The console hooted and it startled the both of us. "Remind to have Cat quiet these things down." Vega said and I agreed.

"This Captain Vega of the Nebuchadnezzar, who is this?"

"Well hi there Captain Vega. It's been awhile wouldn't you say?"

"Uh..no? Who is this?"

"It's me. You ran away from us over in the Gobi system. You wont be getting away this time."

At that I launched myself into the seat and pushed the Nebuchadnezzar into full throttle. Vega was nearly launched off of her feet by the sudden acceleration. From behind a derelict space ship, that ugly pirate ship appeared. "Seriously? What the fuck?!" I yelled. The pirate ship still couldn't match the Neb's maneuverability, but god was it fast for such a massive fucking ship.

"Everyone get ready to jump." I yelled into the ship wide comm. Vega was holding onto my chair trying to keep herself standing. "Jade!" She said or whined.

"Hang on sweetheart this is going to be rough!" I yelled.

"We're jumping now!" I yelled into the ship wide comm just as the computer trilled that missiles were on the way. Nebuchadnezzar glowed blue and the disc erupted in front of us and we exited real-space. After too short of a time, we slammed back into real-space and I again grabbed Vega to keep her from slamming into the window.

"We need more weapons. We can't run from everything. Something is going to be faster then us. Or have better weapons." I said.

Vega fell into my lap and plopped her head on my shoulder. "Yea you're right. I'll talk to the others. We might be on Haven for a couple weeks while they add them."

"What was all that?" Andre said walking into the bridge. He stopped and smiled massively on seeing the position we both were in. Vega ignored him but I glared at him, just daring him to say something. "Got away from Captain no-name again. Seemed he moved from the Gobi system to here." Vega answered Andre.

"Strange. At least we got away. Though Sinjin is in the med bay nursing a head wound."

"What happened to him?" Vega asked. I couldn't have cared less about the creepy little bastard. "He was in the galley when we took off. Hit his head on the counter. Robbie says he wont have any lasting damage. Just a small scar from the stitches."

Vega nodded tiredly and then ordered Andre to have Cat prepare a detailed place that the Neb could hold weapons and be hidden. Still wearing that shit-eating smile, Andre left. Before he could leave, my foot lashed out and tripped him. He went down with a shout and startled Vega. "What happened?" She asked.

"Klutz over there tripped over his fat feet. Aint that right Andre?" I said, bearing down on the last sentence. "Uhmmm yea that's right." He said and quickly got to his feet and left. Once he left Vega said, "you really shouldn't have jumped like that."

"Would you rather stay and have a shoot out with Captain No name?"

"Well no.."

"I did the smart thing then thank you."

That ended the conversation, though Vega didn't make any move to get off of me and I didn't push her. I wondered why I wasn't getting violent over the clear violation of my personal space, but the only thing I could come up with is that it felt nice. Nice to have someone near me. When Beck and I were dating, almost every night we were in bed together. I had missed the feeling of having someone right next to you, holding you tightly without expecting sex.

I mean sex is great and all, but sometime you just want to connect with a person. To wake up and look at them in the morning and not think "well that was great time to move on." I felt a tear slide down my face. God I missed Beck and Dad. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.

"Vega time to go to bed. The others have probably all ready gone to sleep. Vega? Vega are you listening to me?"

A light snore answered my question. "Are you fucking kidding me? I do all of the flying and you fall asleep first?"

My first instinct was to shove her off of me, but she had helped me to my room all those weeks ago, only fair that I return the favor. Grumbling, I lifted Vega up and carried/dragged her to her room. Getting her down the ladder took way too much work, but I did it. (No I didn't just drop her down the ladder. I'm not that mean.)

Once I got her to her bed I tucked her in and then collapsed. I was exhausted, and lacked the energy to get to my room. Maybe us sharing a bed would freak her out. That would be hilarious. With visions of a FULLY CLOTHED Vega looking surprised, I fell asleep.

_Reviews makes this Harlequin of unlimited chaos want to post more. _

_-C.H._


	12. Chapter 12

I felt a cocoon of warmth around me, and it felt great. I didn't want to leave it for any reason. I felt the heat coming from just to the left of me and burrowed deeper into it. I was in that stage of being awake but not awake you know? Well whatever, the important thing is this warmth was right here, all just for me. I was happy until I felt a breath of air on my head; I snorted in annoyance and moved closer to get away from it. That's when I heard what could only be described as a _moan_ of contentment. Like someone was holding onto me. Which would be impossible. No drinking, and I stretched out and I felt that I was still in my clothes. So that rules out any embarrassing moments...well more embarrassing.

Oh hell with it all. I opened my eyes and my vision was immediately filled with an expanse of marble-like skin. A mane of black hair with green lines streaking through it covered my other pillow. _Jade?_ I couldn't believe it! I tried to get up, but her arm across my back tightened and Jade frowned. When I tried to move again, but Jade tightened her grip until I was having trouble breathing. I stopped moving and Jade relaxed her grip.

I glanced at Jade and I was amazed, even in her sleep that angry look of hers didn't go away. It was more relaxed, but I could tell that even in her sleep she was still guarded against the universe. I reached up and trailed my hand over her face, and she frowned and twitched. I hurriedly retracted my hand and buried it under the pillow. While I debated over what I had just done, I managed to congratulate myself over the fact that I didn't freak out over Jade being in my bed.

I glanced at the time piece on the wall, and it was a little after ten in the morning. I had fallen asleep after our dramatic escape from those pirates so I didn't know how far we were from Haven. The jump must have shortened the travel time. If Jade didn't jump us past Haven or anything like that. Jade suddenly moaned and twitched violently. She was still asleep but she was starting to thrash around. A nightmare? What could she be dreaming about? I got my answer when her fists and feet planted themselves in my ribs and launched me off of my bed.

I lay on the ground gasping for air, curled up in a ball. Were did she get such monstrous strength? If I hadn't known better i'd say that she's part heavy gravity-worlder. "No NoNoNo let me out let me out!" Jade's voice was rising in volume and she was thrashing more violently. I ignored the twinge in my ribs and grabbed Jade's arms. It took some work, but I managed to grab her and pull her against me.

"You're fine Jade! You're not trapped anywhere!" Jade kicked for a few seconds (thankfully didn't hit me) before stilling. She tightened her grip around me and hugged my stomach tightly. She finally opened her eyes, and for a full five seconds they were full of terror before they hardened and resumed their normal angry look. She pushed herself off of me and I gave her a moment to compose herself. Besides the look she shot me when I tried to help her should have eviscerated me...

"Did you freak?"

"What?"

"Did you freak out when you woke up?"

"uh no? Should I have?"

"Yes you should have."

I frowned at Jade's smirk. While it was nice enough for her to bring me to my room, it was still annoying that she had intended to pull a joke on me. "I'm going to shower and eat." She said as she started to get up. She had just reached the ladder when I wrapped my arms around her. I stood staring into her shoulder as Jade had froze completely. As I tried to understand what I was doing, I started speaking.

"You don't have to hide it you know. I'm your friend. I'm here if you want to talk."

I don't know why I said those things, and I don't know why Jade wasn't literally and figuratively tearing me apart for touching her without her express permission. Her hands touched my arms for a few seconds, and I thought that she would stay; but then she stepped forward and climbed out of my room. I hope I didn't screw something up. I really hope I didn't. I showered and got dressed and headed up to the bridge. I really should start calling it a bridge. I mean it is a bridge of a ship isn't it? A cockpit is for the little fighter craft things.

Andre was on the bridge messing with the wires at the pilots station. "Something up?" I asked.

Andre shook his head, his shoulder length dreads flying everywhere. "Just double checking things. Cat wanted it done because the Neb wasn't really designed to suddenly tear open stream-holes like that."

"Was any ship designed to do that?"

Andre laughed and went back to work. After about a half an hour, he announced that everything was fine. We talked for a bit and I helped him with a new song he was trying to write. The lines

_We love each other_

_don't want to admit_

_But we really love each other_

had me thinking for a few seconds before I figured out what he was implying. My glare should have melted him down to his shoes but it only had him laughing. That krell! I couldn't believe that he would even imply something like that! I mean of all people..Jade?! Sure she's beautiful, but she's cruel, sadistic, and just plain mean!

I helped him with the song which had a quick melodic thrum to it and sounded really nice. I not so subtly changed a few of the more blatant lyrics, and instead of making Andre mad, all it did was set him to laughing even louder. It also prompted him to start humming something that sounded suspiciously like that hit song "Permanently in denial"

Jade finally exited her room just as we were starting our descent to Haven. Jade had jumped as close to Haven as she could without alerting the authorities, which is why we got there so soon. Jade walked by me and brushed her fingers across me as she walked by. A she flashed me a half-smirk before berating Andre for being in her way. I smiled to myself, glad that Jade wasn't mad at me. We were landing at a different part of Haven, but even so we could still see the damage caused by the riots from a few weeks ago.

Several buildings had construction bots or platforms with people on them hovering around shattered buildings. Several walkways still had large black spots from the fires. There was also a massive amount of military either walking or flying around. Marines in power-suits patrolled the walkways and various military craft patrolled the skies.

The others ignored the military completely while I was somewhat nervous. While the majority of our cargo was legal, there was a large part of it that was illegal. Namely weapons. For the rebels. I piloted the Neb into a hanger bay in one of the larger skyscrapers. Lowering the ramp, we met our contacts. The lead guy towered over everyone else . His hair was snow-white and he had a scar that lined the left side of his cheek.

"Captain Vega?" He asked in a gravelly voice.

"That's me. This is my first mate Jade."

"Welcome to the headquarters for the Haven chapter of Alliance to Restore Freedom."

Jade opened her mouth to make some snide comment, but I stamped on her foot, causing her to wince and thankfully, shut up. Tall guy looked at us strangely before handing me a data-tome. "These are our payments?" I asked.

"Yes. Modern quad rail guns, mark nine stream engine, and system upgrades."

I was impressed and so were the others. Cat was practically salivating at the thought of a mark nine engine. "You'll have to run these missions in order to pay it all off."

I flipped through the tome easily finding the missions. Multiple supply runs all over Dominion space. Easily done. I hope. Jade didn't look to pleased, but after quick consulting with the others, I agreed to the terms. Tall-guy introduced himself as Jameson, and had his people unload the cargo. Jade handled the weapons, refusing to show them where the hidden spots were, and I agreed with her. The giant silver containers were unloaded into the bay, and once they were all off of the Neb, Jameson tapped on the tome and the dozens upon dozens of containers hissed and opened up.

One by one people started to stand up, stretching and groaning. "So we were transporting people?" Andre asked with some distaste.

Jameson spoke up "Yes. You brought reinforcements. These men and women will be instrumental in the coming war. They're responsible for training a new army on Haven. An Army to free Haven from the Dominion."

We didn't have anything to say to that, though we were slightly twitched over the fact that we had transported people like they were cargo. They could have at least told us. We put aside our grumbling and started to work on the Neb. It was going to be several weeks of work to upgrade everything on the Neb. It's a good ship, but the broadsword transports haven't been used in about sixty years.

Weeks went by as we made the upgrades. The reinforcements we brought to Haven went on a mass recruiting spree. If what Robbie told me was true, they had managed to build and train a large army here. I hoped that we wouldn't be here when they started fighting, but I knew deep down that we probably would. I was walking over the rear section of the Neb, adjusting my step to avoid sliding down the sloped part of it. I walked by Jade who didn't even notice me. To be fair though, she was working with a nano-welder and putting some wiring for the engines together.

Everything looked good, in fact it looked fantastic. The Neb had a shiny new black armor upgrade; so she looked like a brand new ship. If I didn't know better, i'd have said that the Neb had just rolled out of a factory.

A small red dot caught my eye. Near the lower half of left engine, there was a dinner plate sized black thing with a read center attached to my ship. As I leaned forward to investigate, I noted that the loud nano-welder had been turned off. The circle thing looked like a tracking beacon, and as soon as I touched it to disable it, I was hit a massive electric shock. I was blasted off of my feet and I think I felt I landed in someone's arms. We started sliding down the back of the ship.

I started losing consciousness.

Blackness crashed down.

I woke up with what felt like centuries later in the med-bay. I groaned at the bright lights beaming into my face. With every bone and muscle in my body, I felt nothing but _pain._

"Wha...What happened?" I asked what I had assumed to be an empty med bay.

"You found a tracking beacon and was electrocuted by it's defenses. Jade saved you from falling off of the Neb. Robbie says you'll be fine, you just need to rest for awhile." Andre said.

"Thanks. How long was I out?"

"About all of today. According to Cat, the beacon was armed with a electric pulse thing. Designed to knock you senseless, not kill you."

"Well it worked. I'm knocked senselessly."

Andre laughed and explained what happened while I was out. Jade had Cat properly disable the tracking beacon, and then she and Cat went off and somehow attached it to some military craft. Jameson had been told but reassured them that this bay was shielded against any transmissions that the ARF doesn't want going out.

Cat and Robbie came in just after Andre finished explaining everything. Robbie checked me over and pronounced me addled, but fine. Cat's excited chatter brought a smile to my face. The mark nine engine was amazing according to her, and fast as anything. I'm willing to bet she was in love with the engine. Our conversations was interrupted by Jade stumbling into the med bay. I tried to sit up, but Andre pushed me back down as Robbie and Cat rushed to help her.

Jade had a split lip, bloody nose, and several scratches on her face. Robbie spent twenty minutes getting all of the glass out of her face and hair. Her stomach was a mess of bruises.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"Helping ARF to recruit more people, guy tried to rape me. He wont try it again."

None of us liked the tone in her voice, and the moment Robbie finished bandaging and putting ice on her wounds, I ordered everyone out.

"Jade..what did you do to him?"

Jade glared at me before speaking. "First I fought back. When he continued and slammed by head into a fucking window, I fought back even harder. And then I snapped his neck."

"You...You killed him? A person?"

"No. I killed a rapist. And it wasn't the first rapist I killed either." Jade sighed. I didn't know how to react. I mean yea it was a rapist, but still.

"When I was fifteen, there was this kid. Adam O'Riley. Football scholarship, kinda hunky all around nice guy. I wasn't attracted to his narcissistic ass. It's probably why he was after me. Every other girl was practically throwing themselves at him. It was a little after midnight in January when I was walking back from a gas station. He found me and started talking to me. I gave him a frozen shoulder and he wouldn't take the hint. Eventually he pinned me to the wall. Before he could do anything, Beck showed up. Adam started to leave, but before he did he whispered that he was going to get his hands on me later, whether I wanted it or not. Bragged that there was nothing I could do about it. So I pushed him down the stairs. He fell and broke his neck and his skull."

"Do...Do you regret it?" I asked after Jade fell silent.

"I...I do and I don't." She looked me dead in the eye and whispered "I regret that I enjoyed watching him fall."

She got up to leave and I called out to her.

"What is it Vega?"

"Jade..." I hesitated. Jade looked worried, and her eyes kept flicking over me, as if searching for something.

"What's a gas station?" I asked.

Wow. I always thought the jaw hitting the floor was a figure of speech. Turns out it's not. Jade's jaw seemed to stretch as she stood there staring at me. After I started giggling, she snapped her jaw shut and chuckled. "I'll explain later." She turned from and called out to Robbie.

"She's free to go right?"

"Not exactly, Tori needs bed rest and"

The rest of his sentence was cut off when Jade turned her fearsome gaze on him. Robbie quailed and retreated from her and hid behind Andre, who wisely backed up. "She's fine, just make sure she stays in bed for at least one more day!" Robbie said.

"Fine. And Robbie? Get rid of that damn doll. It's creepy, and not in the good way."

I glanced at the doll he calls Rex and could only agree with her. Jade had everyone lock up the Neb for the night. As soon as they were gone, she picked me up bridal style. I blushed wildly as she carried me up to my room. "I was fine in the med-bay." I muttered to her chest.

"If you call that fine then you have some serious issues. Those have got to be the most uncomfortable beds I have ever lane on."

"I don't have issues!"

"Have you seen your music collection? You do Vega."

I tried to glare at her, but Jade just raised her eyebrow at me. I'm not intimidating. Carrying me bridal style Jade got us into my room. With my permission, she helped change me into an over sized shirt to sleep in. I was blushing wildly but Jade didn't seem the least bit bothered by it. Jade helped me into bed and then started to leave.

"Jade...I can't...I want to be mad at you for ending someone's life. But I can't."

Jade stopped at the ladder. "It was an accident the first time. This time...I just lost it. He wanted to..." Jade shook her head. "I'm sorry Vega, but the real verse isn't sunshine and happiness. If someone wants to hurt you, you hurt them right back."

She was right, even if I didn't want to admit it. She started climbing up the ladder and I called her once more. When she stopped, I asked "Could you stay with me tonight?" I blushed and looked everywhere but at her. After what felt like an eternity, the ladder rung as Jade continued climbing up it, and then my door shut.

I sighed. I should have known that she wouldn't want to do anything that involved getting close to people. Two loud thumps interrupted my thoughts. Jade sat at the end of the bed, removing her massive boots. She grabbed my sleep pants and put them on. (I was blushing again at the sight of a half naked Jade)

She climbed into the bed and pushed me out of the way to make room. She flipped the light switch over me and plunged the room into darkness.

"Hey Jade," I said, eager to talk to her.

"Vega?" She said interrupting me.

"Yea?"

"Shut up."

With that her arm draped across my stomach and it took a lot of energy, but I managed to pull her close to me. Well closer, and Jade nuzzled into my side with our legs becoming tangled up. I fell asleep smiling.

_No worries, action aplenty in the next chapter. I originally wanted to call the rebels the Children of Apex, but then I decided that was pretty much plagiarism of the Sons of Korhal from StarCraft. Hope you all enjoyed._

_-C.H._


	13. Chapter 13

I slept so well, I couldn't even begin to remember the last time I had truly a peaceful sleep. I was confused as to why the best sleep came from being in the same room as Vega, but whatever. I looked up at the chronometer and it read just past six a.m. Way to freaking early. But no surprise since Vega and I went to sleep just after nine. Again, too early for me. I wanted to go back to sleep but my bladder chose at that moment to start screaming at me. I didn't want to leave Vega but the alternative was pissing myself.

I slowly detached myself from her, though it took some work due to the fact that our legs were completely tangled up and to top it off her arms were wrapped around me. Vega frowned and mewled quietly and I found myself making the decision to return to return the bed. My brain was too fuddled to actually process what I was deciding and my bladder was screaming at a whole new octave. Grumbling, I climbed up the ladder to my room. I may not be prudish, but using that pull out toilet in front of someone was just...nasty.

A quick glance proved that the hallway was empty. I wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone, especially Andre who seemed to fancy himself some sort of matchmaker. I climbed down to my room and looked around. It seemed so cold and empty. Like it's owner.

I used the bathroom and and brushed my teeth and looked around my empty room. It was so empty. I frowned and exited my room. Thinking about such things is stupid. It never accomplishes a goddamn thing. Though I couldn't even begin to know about what I was thinking about. All I knew was that I didn't like my empty room anymore.

I quickly climbed out and went back to Vega's room. I had just shut the door when the door to Andre's opened. Close call there. I sighed and climbed into bed with Vega. She immediately wrapped around me and winced in pain. I moved closer held Vega to make sure she wouldn't move and soon fell asleep.

Sleep didn't last all that long. The comm trilled and woke us both up. I hit the button and before either of us could say anything, Robbie started speaking. "Jameson wants to talk to you. He's getting impatient."

"Got it, we're on our way." Vega said. Vega tried to get up but she couldn't suppress the wince when she moved. I rolled my eyes and shoved her back on the bed. "Stay. As your first mate I'll go find out what he wants."

Vega started to protest when I shoved her against the bed more firmly. "Stay here Vega. Watch some holo-vids or something."

I quickly got dressed and exited her room, leaving a pouting Vega behind. I went down to the cargo bay and found everyone in a bad mood, and Jameson standing there unrepentant. I walked up to them and barked at Robbie to go check on Vega.

"Where's your captain?" Jameson demanded.

"Out. What's the problem?" I snapped.

"We're starting our revolution. You're going to help."

"Ex-fucking-cuse me?" I stared at him, completely stunned. "That wasn't the deal we had with Arbiter. We run supplies for the rebels. Not fight wars."

"Things change. We're going to need the Nebuchadnezzar to provide air support for the battles on the upper levels."

"No. We're not soldiers."

"Your crew seems to be silent about it."

Cat spoke up "She's right. We're not fighting!"

Andre and Sinjin jumped in agreeing with her. Jameson looked furious and started to argue with us. We argued with him for at least an hour before he stormed off.

"What an ass." I muttered. The others agreed with me, and I sent them off to double check everything and to be ready to run quickly. Jameson wouldn't be asking for our help if their battle wasn't close. I sent Andre to fill Vega in and went to the bridge. I grabbed Sinjin and had him encrypt the communications, and then had to chase him away to get him to leave. Creepy little shit.

I spent the next hour and a half going through different channels, when at long last I found what I was looking for.

"Is this the Arbiter?" I asked.

"This must be the Nebuchadnezzar."

I panicked before the voice said "This is the Arbiter."

"Is the line secure?" I asked.

"Even more secure then what you attempted. Trust me, no one is going to know we're talking."

"All right..Your local leader seems to be under the impression that we're going to help fight."

"You're not. You're our suppliers. Wars aren't won with only soldiers. Supply lines have to be intact. Besides even if none of that was true, that was our deal. I'll talk to..." There was a tapping sound and then Arbiter said "Jameson. I'll talk to Jameson. In the mean make sure all of your upgrades are ready. I'm going to need you to get some supplies from Paris."

"You want us to go all the way to Earth?"

"What? No the planet Charlemagne, it's capital is Neo-Paris or just Paris."

"How original." I drawled.

Arbiter gave a throaty chuckle. "Is there anything else?"

"No. That was it. When do you want us to get to Paris?"

"I piggy-backed all the information that you need along this call, leave whenever you want, but the sooner the better."

"Got it. Bye."

I cut the call and rubbed my face. Well got that out of the way. Jameson will have to listen to the boss, though I did feel a little bit dirty about having gone running to the nearest authority tattling like a little girl. But the alternative was to risk being forced to fight in a war instead of the occasional scrap that we can survive.

Cat came in and smiled. "The missile pods are in and hidden. Did you tell the cap?"

"At some point I will."

Cat frowned and I smirked. "Get everyone and double check everything. We're going to Charlemagne, pick up some shit for the rebels."

Cat blanched and looked worried. I hit a button and the doors slammed shut behind us. "Cat..talk. What happened?"

She didn't look like she wanted to talk and her hair shifted through varying shades of red. I put my hands her shoulders and just gave her silent support.

"I..I was born on Charlemagne. When I was six, Charlemagne rebelled. It was crushed in a day. After, people who go to the church of humanity said it was our fault that the rebellion failed."

"Psions." She said, clarifying for me after my questioning look. "Everyone knew my brother was a psi, a weak one but a psi. Him and anyone the church pointed a finger at was rounded up and.." She trailed off.

"It was a witch-hunt." I whispered.

Cat nodded numbly. "My parents tried to stop it...they got caught up in a riot. This nice man put me on a ship to earth, I lived in LA since then."

I embraced Cat and held her while she sobbed. No wonder she had been worried about letting us know that she was a tech-psi. Eventually I put her in the co-pilots seat so she could pull herself together and I looked up what this church of humanity was.

According to the computer it wasn't a religion like what I knew. It wasn't dedicated to any god, but more so to the idea of humanity being gods ourselves. Humans had ascended to the stars and therefor we were supposedly superior to everything that may or may not be out there. They also didn't like any mutants of any form. And that went triple for psions. What a lovely group of people. According the computer there were only tens of millions of supporters. But when compared to the billions of people out there it was a pathetically small amount.

Cat and I went to check over the Nebuchadnezzar. Robbie came up to me and told me that Vega was fine and would be up and walking by the end of the day. Everything checked out and I went to go explain everything to Vega.

"So we're going to Charlemagne." I said by way of greeting after I barged into Vega's room. "Uh were's that?" She asked.

"Somewhere in the milky way."

Vega frowned and I smirked. "Don't worry that fantastic ass of yours. It's a simple run to Charlemagne over in the next system. Only need one jump to get there."

Vega burned red and somehow managed to sink her her behind even farther into the mattress. I laughed climbed out of her room and went up the bridge.

"SATCI this is Nebuchadnezzar." I said going through the warm up process.

"Go ahead Nebuchadnezzar." some woman replied.

"Departing from Haven, what's the feed on travel?"

"Travel is green all the way to Charlemagne. After that it's pirate territory."

"Got it Nebuchadnezzar out."

I switched off the comm and started to power up the Nebuchadnezzar. "Wow you really sound like a modern girl." Andre said from behind me. I rolled my eyes and didn't bother to comment. "Jameson say or do anything?" I asked.

"Naw, he looked really pissed though. You have anything to do with that?"

"No."

Andre believed me and settled into the copilots seat, fiddling with the guitar he brought for some reason. He started strumming it as I pulled us out of the building and through the atmosphere. I raced past some peculiar looking ships. I stared at them as we flew past, and they were all clustered together like they all new something. At closer inspection I recognized the hidden weapon ports scattered all over the ships. Strange.

My attention returned to flying as I prepared us for a jump. I grabbed the comm and announced that we were jumping. That familiar blue-white disc formed and we entered. After what seemed like eternity but also incredibly fast, we erupted into real space. Charlemagne appeared before us, brown and really disgusting looking.

"You sure you wanted to jump so close?" Andre said worriedly glancing around for military ships.

"...oops?" I said, also looking around, thankfully there were none. I really looked at the planet and gasped. "Computer, is the air breathable?"

"Affirmative. It is recommended that you do not breath the air without a filtration unit for longer then an hour."

"Do we have those?" I asked Andre, staring at the mud brown world. "Yea..Yea. I'll go get them."

Andre left me to stare at the world. The color wasn't even from the ground, those were brown clouds that were moving around. How could someone just let their home turn into this? So polluted that you couldn't even breath?

Staring in disbelief, I started guiding the Nebuchadnezzar to land on Charlemagne.

_SATCI- Space and Air Traffic Control and Information_

_Hope you all enjoyed._

_-C.H._


End file.
